I slipped away for an extra long weekend with my parents.  My mom and I found ourselves drawn to the American autumn – making carmel apples and strolling through leafy streets near football practice fields.  We visited craft bazars and quilt shows.  And we couldn’t help it; we browsed baby sections of little shops and slowly built a care package for the newest member of our family.

Yes!  I am an aunt now!  It’s very surreal and beautiful and beyond breathtaking.

One of the greatest things about being in the US this autumn is connecting with family and the people around us.  (It far outdoes the fun of Halloween cheese at our little grocery store in Berlin.)

You should try pumpkin waffles from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I’m going to see if I can invent pumpkin pancakes next.

Oh and here’s a pumpkin tip for all of you in Germany.

You can find American canned pumpkin in the import section of some grocery stores (specifically those in touristy areas).  It costs a FORTUNE; don’t buy it.  You can purchase pumpkins and bake them.

But I’ve learned something so much faster… Use sweet potato.

When an American friend and I hosted Thanksgiving in Berlin a few years ago, she said she’d be in charge of the pie.  She’s from the south.  I wasn’t going to turn down a southern girl’s offer to make pie!  So she taught me a trick.  Sweet potato pie tastes almost identical to pumpkin pie.  Now I steam and mash sweet potatoes for all my pumpkin recipes… even in the US.

Any favorite pumpkin or sweet potato recipes at your house?  I have a few more “A Celebration” posts to share along with a few gifts for all of you.  But I’ll confess – a little pumpkin something (or sweet potato something!) to go with it sounds dreamy.  So I hope you share!

I’ve been thinking a lot about gift giving this year.  Let’s see…  a gratitude journal for my mom, travel journal for my dad, home minibook for the neighbors, baby book for our first niece…

Okay!  Maybe I’ll branch out.  Maybe I shouldn’t give everyone something from Gadanke.  But they are all certainly getting one of these snazzy gift tags.  The handmade, hand-cut tags are all in the shop, ready to be matched with a lovely little something for someone on your list.  Come take a peek…

The Christmas tree originated in Germany. Why not add a little “Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” under your tree this year just for fun?

{Fröhliche Weihnachten} ~ Christmas Gift Tags

Know someone who just can’t seem to resist snooping under the Christmas tree year after year?

Yeah – me too!

I can’t wait to put this tag on her gift…. if only she’d quit snooping in the shop!

{No Snooping!} ~ Gift Tags

And finally these chevron and zig zags, which are a fashion rage this winter.  I think these tags would look really great with a solid colored wrapping paper and bit of curly ribbon.

Which one is your favorite?

The last time I truly talked about The Future of Katie and Martin was in May.

For some reason, capitalizing each little bit like that makes this post seem extra official, when really all it is would be a girl in her old college sweatshirt sitting in front of her computer with a cup of tea (also made in her college town).  She’s thinking, “Boy life’s a funny thing, and I have a semblance of a plan of what’s going to happen next… I think.”

In May, I had just finished over 600 hours of German lessons.  That number still feels unimaginable.  What it means is that the German government considered my language skills “integration level”.  They were ready to let me stay in Germany as much as I pleased (providing a number of rules and exceptions, of course).

There was this constant nagging in my heart to truly pursue Gadanke.  I’d lay in bed, wide awake, thinking about how I could possibly make it work.  We were returning to the United States for the summer.  What if I just went for it?

Martin and I agreed.  I was going to start creating my dream career.  It wasn’t something an office or other person could give to me.  If I didn’t start now, I think I would have forever felt guilt.  The door was wide open for me to walk through.  I just had to pick up my bags and do it.

And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

My goal was to become capable of financially holding up Martin and me by September.  He would be in school, studying this:

Our plans have changed a little.  We’re still in the United States.  But Martin is still on track as a full-time student, too.  Hooray!

If we lived simply before, now we really are.  There’s no flying, no eating at the locally-sourced restaurant, … no so many things.  And that is totally fine because I am giving Gadanke a chance.

I realized that all I need to do is work hard at something I love and feel unafraid of failure.  Things will fall into place.  They already are.