I am attracted to inner beauty.  I am attracted to stories people tell and the passions in their hearts.  Intimate and small conversations fill me with happiness.

Is this where most people find passion with other people?

I went to a blogging convention called Blissdom this last weekend.  My idea of natural beauty in women has changed forever.

Martin taking me to the airport for Blissdom via airplane because it was faster and safer than driving (no icy highways or multiple mountain passes to drive up and down).  Besides – why not start off totally different when  you are different?!

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1.  Natural beauty isn’t the clothes you wear.

As I met new women, no one knew that I haven’t bought new clothes in almost two years.  But no one said I was dressed funny.  No one gave me “that look” – not even the fashion bloggers I met.

2.  Natural beauty is how you hold yourself up.

It’s how you carry your head and how you smile.  You just have to be confident.  A woman representing a dryer sheet company walked up to me at the conference.  She had a little quiz to determine if you were more of a dryer sheet girl or a dryer bar kind of gal.  She was sooo excited about this quiz.  (I still have no idea what a dryer bar is.)  ”Do you want to take the quiz?” she squealed.

“Actually,” I told her, “I don’t use a dryer.”

I expected a disaster.  Could two blond girls clash any further?  Would she start pushing me?  Would I respond with an I’m-better-than-you awful comment just because I am really happy without a dryer?

She lifted her head and smiled such a genuine smile.  ”I guess you don’t need any of our products then.”  And she moved on.

3.  Naturally beauty comes when you listen.

Everyone called me too shy or reserved in high school.  It used to frustrate me because I could tell you all sorts of (crazzzy) stories about those people.  I learned that I was a listener.  I like to think that maybe I speak when there’s something important to say.

4.  Natural beauty is in the words you say.

Don’t let people tell you that you’re shy.  Don’t let fears slow you down.  I mean – you can speak the same language, right?  (That’s what I tell myself when I get scared to talk to someone.  ”Relax, Katie.  That person knows English.  It’s not German.  You’ve already got one cool thing going for you…”)

5.  Natural beauty comes from embracing yourself.

Our conference was a Twitter-mania.  It was a laptop explosion, and everywhere I turned, there would be a dozen girls snapping photos.  I loved the energy; I was absolutely blown away by the incredible multi-tasking skills these girls were sporting.  But none of that was me.  (Hence the only blog you may find with a Blissdom wrap-up that contains noooo conference photos!  I sort of only took one picture… on the way to the airport – shown above.)

I am okay with that.  It was me.

At one point, I asked myself:  what if I had Tweetdeck and Twitter and my blog and my shop here all at once.  Would I want them right now?

My answer was easily a no.  When you’re doing things differently, you just have to embrace and love what it is and who you are.

6.  Natural beauty comes from not complaining.

A lot of our conference included meals from sponsors with ethics and ingredients that I don’t agree with.  One particular lunch was especially heavy on sponsor endorsement.  I was cranky about the experience.  An organic blogger told me, “I just didn’t attend the lunch.  I went to my hotel room, laid down, and relaxed.”

* * * * * *

Huge thank yous go to all the women who touched me over the weekend.  There were so many who moved me.  A humbled thank you to Jane, Tsh, Erin Jill + JuneAnne , Lindsey, Lori, Brene, Nicole, Gina, Lisa, Allison, Amanda, Jeannett – heros in my weekend.

My greatest hope is that maybe – just maybe – I touched a few just by being me… because that’s the best I can ever be.

I love Fridays.  They’re always so busy and so exciting because we all know what’s coming next.  Saturday!

I got an email from my old German teacher in Berlin.  She asked how we were doing, when we might be coming back, and most importantly… how much have I been practicing my German?!

Oh boy.  Her email was in German, and she specifically commented (in German):  Katie, you are required to write back to me!  And you have to do it IN GERMAN.

Yikes.  There’s no slack there.

So here’s what needs to be reported…

Santa brought me this book of little bedtime stories… German bedtime stories.  Did you ever read those books with 365 stories when you were a kid?  I loved those!  Sometimes it drove me crazy, though.  The stories were never long enough for my liking.  I’d ask my dad to read a couple more every night.

Now I want them to be shorter.  Way shorter.  This book is the Sandman’s story book.  In the upper corner of each page, he tells your parents how long each story will take to tell.  The story about Pegasus the horse is on the left.  It takes two minutes to read.

Should be a breeze, people.  A breeze!

My name is Katie, and I spent 20 minutes reading this story.  Sometimes my attention drifted, and I started making up my own story because it was easier than reading past tense German.  (I’d like to think my story was a bit better…! ha)  I’ve made it to January 5th’s story.  Never mind that today is January 28th.

So will someone please report back to my teacher that – yes – Katie is still working on her German and – yes – it’s not all English all the time.

Please tell my teacher I am learning German children’s songs and poems.  Well no… you’d better just tell her, “Katie is tryyyyying to learn children’s songs and poems.”  No, no, no.  That’s not quite true, either.  ”Katie intends to learn children’s songs and poems…”  Maybe I could get my hands on a mixed tape.

And finally, will someone please tell my teacher that – yes – Katie is even practicing her German right here on Making This Home!

Yep.  You guessed it, folks.  It’s time to leave a comment in German.  English comments are banned today. Please say hello.  Please say, “Katie’s a diligent student, teacher.”  (Do that without laughing if you would.)  Please tell me about your day.  Just don’t do it in English. Do it in German or French or Spanish or Greek or…  Heck, with the German skills some of you have, it’s gonna be Greek to me anyway.

Was denkst du?  Sollen wir Deutsch sprechen?  (What do you think?  Shall we speak German?)

Howdy howdy from the South.  I’m feeling like a warm, warm baked potato down here at the blogger convention.  (It’s fabulous!)

Martin claims he is not turning the tire house into a bachelor pad… well any more than it already is.  I’m a little suspicious, though.  He just got some new “school books” on Tuesday night.  But I’m no dummy.

That guy’s kickin’ back!  Just look at these things.  A book about couches?  Another about being restful?

I know these pictures are blurry.  I just had to get evidence that someone may be on a stay-cation right now, and it was only getting darker outside.  Hmmm…

And just after I vacuumed the tire trim, too!  I also restocked the {Expand Your Story} Refill Kits at Gadanke if you need more fun pages to tell your stories.

I’m crazy about the fun paperclips, the round stickers, and aviation chart pages.  The charts are repurposed from – gulp – my solo flights last summer when I got a pilot’s license.

Before I go somewhere, I like to clean and organize and declutter.  Do you do that, too?  That way coming home is something to look forward to as well. The house is all tidy and ready for unpacking and relaxing instead of scrubbing out lasagna pans.

Anyone ever dive into a “restful” book like Martin?  Something tells me a novel would actually be relaxing, NOT reading those text books.  Which brings me to wonder:  what are you reading lately?

I’m heading down South today, ya’ll.  I haven’t been in the South since college, so an adventure to Blissdom for a blogging convention is feeling so very sentimental.  Martin still teases me about the southern accent I picked up (and quickly lost)… which usually included me mentioning how “haaaawt” it was down there.

I still say “ya’ll” sometimes, too.  High school kids will LAUGH at you for using words like that around here.  I know; I used to laugh.

My down coat has kindly asked to stay behind.  I guess…. Same goes for my wool coat, gloves, and long underwear.  I guess…

You know what’s really cool about not buying new clothes for months and months?  It’s pretty easy to figure out what clothes to bring.  (I’m bringing what I have.)  I hope I’m not totally out of fashion.

No scratch that.  The last time I was in the South, I learned very quickly:  in the rural Rocky Mountains, we kind of have no fashion.  I’m still getting compliments around here for the tote I picked up back in college.  That tote is coming to Blissdom, and something tells me I am going to be waaaaay behind on the times down there.

I can’t wait.

I drove to the mailbox yesterday morning.  It’s kind of embarrassing to say that.

I was the first one on the road all day.  I was in my down coat and long underwear.

I said hello to the lone horse outside.  Hello horse!  Do you suppose he’s staying warm? Do you think below-freezing temperatures bother him?

I woke two dogs from their morning snoozes so they could chase me.  Again.

But they did not last long, and before I knew it, they were just two specks in my rearview mirror.

I try to document more of the every day stuff now. When we lived in Europe, it was so easy to see how AMAZING the everyday life was for people over there.  That’s because it wasn’t my every day.

What is part of your every day? Have you ever brought a camera with you to capture it?  It might feel like your every day is boring or uninteresting.  Maybe it is… but only RIGHT NOW.  I’d love to have photos of the lengthy journey we used to take to elementary school (you know what “lengthy” means in elementary school… it was like five blocks!).  I’d love to see photos from my autumn bike ride to campus.

I’d love to have… wait a second.  Why not make it a habit to capture more of those everyday journeys now?  (NOT that I am allowing myself to drive to the mailbox once that temperature creeps above freezing again.)  But for now, this is a piece of my weekly  journey.

What are some everyday journeys from the past that you’d love to see today?  What’s an everyday (or weekly) journey you’re taking now?

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at… Oh right.  Christmas has come and gone.  Cut the Christmas music.  But don’t feel like you have to cut the roasting chestnuts, too.  Ever since marrying into a European family, I’ve had a major crush on roasting chestnuts.

They’re still in stores around here in the USA.  Street venders are still selling them at winter markets around Berlin.  So what the heck.  We brought some home.  After all, Jack Frost is totally nipping our noses.  We’re just going to skip the whole “open fire” thing and go with roasting in the the oven.

The first thing you have to do is make two slits shaped like an X on the flat side of the chestnut shell.  Lay them on a big cookie sheet as you go.  It’s pretty easy…

That’s Martin, me, and our brother-in-law going to town on the first chestnuts on Christmas Eve.  And yeah.  That expression would be me saying, “Can we pllllllease open a few Christmas gifts early?”  I had a paring knife all wrapped up and under the tree for Martin!  We give each other nerdy gifts like that.  ;)

Cook chestnuts over low heat (about 275 degrees F or 135 C).  The shells will peel open at the X.  Swirl them around on the pan just a little.  It takes 20-30 minutes.  It’s hard to get fresh chestnuts around here, so it takes a little longer to cook the ones we have.

When they’re finished, they have almost a baked potato sort of texture.  It feels like it almost melts in your mouth.  Serve ‘em hot.

Have you roasted your own chestnuts?  Had any from a street vendor?  Or are you more of the stick-to-the-song kind of folks?