Would you like to go on a little trip with me?   It’s one of those Memory Lane sort of trips that make you smile like flipping through old family photo albums.  You and I can just look through some of the memories from Year One on Making This Home.  Would you like that?  I don’t really have any particular reason for picking the posts that I did.  I know that they were moments that made us happy and discoveries that made our life a little more beautiful.  Enjoy!

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October 2008:  How to Celebrate Autumn in Germany

“This year, October isn’t about the Halloween candy or fake cobwebs.  It’s a season of embracing harvest and the beauty of our surroundings.  My favorite part of this season in Berlin is the outdoor markets.  They were fun in the summer, but now they feel magical.”

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November 2008: Tiny Kitchen = Tiny Combo Units

“Here’s another moment where you might begin to think we’ve gone a little crazy.  This is our grill… er, oven… er, microwave.  Actually, it’s all of these. This little fella is an oven/microwave combo that has about five other features that I haven’t translated yet.”

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December 2008: German Christmas Cookies

“German Christmas culture used to come to our house in a little red package from an Italian grocer near my parents’ house.  The little man sold random food products from all over the world.  It wasn’t very good.  The cookies were dried out and filled with preservatives.  But it brought a little bit of Germany to my husband… until we got this recipe.”

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January 2009: How to Restore Old Furniture

“I’m back with an extra-easy tutorial on how you can reshape a piece of banged up wood furniture into a work of art.”

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February 2009: Dishwasher or Hand Washer?  Our New Appliance

“Every so often, I read about women who claim they are saving money and water by washing dishes by hand.  While this theory sounded very probable, I set out to find out what the most energy efficient method really was.  The truth, of course, is that I want to be sure that my laziness is actually helping the planet.”

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March 2009: Author & Chef Mark Bittman’s Tiny Kitchen

“Mark recently wrote, ‘When it comes to kitchens, size and equipment don’t count nearly as much as devotion, passion, common sense and, of course, experience.’  He should know.  His kitchen is only 42 square feet!”

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April 2009: Using Natural Varnish

“Spending a little extra money on natural varnish meant we could keep living in our house during our kitchen remodel.   We didn’t have to stay in a hotel, and we didn’t have to worry about future off gassing.”

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May 2009: Gift Ideas for Americans in Europe

“After gobs of requests for the perfect gift to send to Americans and Canadians heading off to start a life in Europe, I’m here to dish out the goods… err make it easier for all of you hunting for the perfect goods to send to your expat buds and overseas friends.”

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June 2009: How to Afford Living in Two Countries

“When I think of people who live in both the United States and Europe, it sounds really expensive.  I think of Senators’ wives, rich real estate tycoons, families with old money…. oh wait.  Then I remember that I’m living in both the United States and Europe this year, and I am far from any of those.”

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July 2009: Getting Safe Drinking Water

“Now that we’re in the country for the summer, we’ve started wondering about a topic we never really thought about much in the city:  the quality of our drinking water.”

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August 2009:  Don’t Dispose of Chemical Cleaners.  Donate Them!

“Ever since my baby sister read the post, Green Cleaning Tips, she’s had green cleaning on the brain.  The only problem was that she had gobs of nasty chemical cleaners filling the entire space below her sink.”

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September 2009: A Natural Beauty Routine

“Try counting how many products you use in your daily beauty routine – from lip balms to shampoos.  Then think about how many ingredients are in each of those products… and how many chemicals that might be.”

In the kitchen

Picking a dishwasher or sticking to hand washing.  Which is greener?  Which is cheaper?  And our half-sized appliance pick.

Sharing chocolate chip cookies.  An American recipe, a German adaptation.

Setting up a kitchen recycling center

Revealing our 36 square foot kitchen remodel

In the home

Making fresh cut flowers last longer

Decorating a boring bulletin board from the hardware store

Saving money throughout the house

In Europe

Grasping the crazy system that is German recycling with 10+ separate bins.  Possibly!

Setting up a filing system in a foreign country

For the holiday

Making green handmade Valentines from trash at home

From around the web

Hearts and Traditions at The Delightful Home

Beauty out of Chaos at Strocel.com

Heart Flower Bouquets at maya made

Slowing Things Down at Small Notebook

Creative Series: Just Do It! {6} at Decor8

(Images by Katie for Making This Home)

Many sheets of sandpaper, wet snowflakes, and rich bites of German chocolate with hazelnuts later, it looks like January has come to an end.  It was a lovely month.  Don’t you think?  One thing that I always love about the beginning of February is the anticipation of warmer, lighter days to come.  I’m tired of the dark afternoons.

But I think I’ll look back to those cold days just once more.  It’s time for a recap of January – the best of the best.

1. Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell, authors of the fantastic book, Celebrate Green!, gave us some really cool green party ideas and tips in this personal interview.  My favorite is the centerpiece suggestion.

2. We got a peek into Joanne’s 20 square foot kitchen.  She offered loads of tips for making any kitchen work–ideas like using vertical space and organizing your space to fit your tasks.

3. Martin and I put together a tutorial on how to restore old furniture.  Our beat up wooden frames served as guinea pigs.

4. Then many of you shared great tips for cutting back on expenses in the comments of the popular post, How We Afford to Live in Europe.

5.  I got all gushy about family heirlooms and taking time to observe the world when I wrote Holding onto the Senses of Touch and Smell.

6. With a little glimpse into our European life, I showed you our water meters that measure water usage to the liter and our two-burner stove, asking if you’d go crazy with the meters like I do or live comfortably with the small oven like we seem to be doing.

7.  I don’t think I’ve ever added any children’s poetry to this list.  As many of you might know, I’m pretty bashful about my poetry.  Most of my family doesn’t even know I write it.  So *somehow* I got the courage to share two with you this month:  I Want to Be Bubble Bath Soap and  When My Best Isn’t The Best.  Whew!

Last month in my review, several of you pointed out a slip on my part.  I forgot to mention anything about our kitchen in my recap.  (HOW I did that, I have no idea.  It’s impossible to escape the sawdust.)  So let’s end with our kitchen overhaul, shall we?

8.  We ran into our first major problem with the kitchen remodel: the granite countertops didn’t fit at all.  Martin ended up cutting off a portion of one cabinet that we’d custom sized to hold our plates.  The counter was ready to show itself.  The plates are still homeless, as is absolutely everything else while we sand and varnish… sand and varnish…

Way back last year in 2008, I think we had a pretty good time.  You don’t know this, but it was my first Christmas away from my family.  It was really hard, although I felt really close to them as we all challenged ourselves to have a greener holiday, much like many of you did here with me.  I loved the ideas and changes you all made during the season.  You kept me strong, so thank you for every environmental thing you did in December.  Go team green!

Some highlights for the month included:

Well for us, anyway, this American classic had top priority when we arrived in the US.

How about some highlights we shared on Making This Home since I couldn’t mail you any pie (because Martin ate it all!)…

1.  Naturally, I have to say our Greener Christmas challenge with digital thank you cards, wrapping paper from blueprints, and oh so much more throughout the month was a smashing hit.  You were all so eco-savy and downright awesome.  Do you hear the crowds cheering?

2.  We made our own fabric gift bags with a few quick stitches on the sewing machine.  I use one to hold my camera now.  It’s just perfect.  And adding a few straps to the bigger bags meant we didn’t have to add to the growing plastic problems at the landfills.

3.  Andrea Schroder from Top Design on HGTV offered us three valuable decorating tips for our holidays.

4.  Then when the weather was -20 degrees (F) for an ENTIRE week in the US, Martin and I decided to make ice cream outside.  Crazy, I know.  But soooo good.

5.  And finally, we looked at a beautiful collection of Christmas photographs in Berlin that were taken by Vica, an up-and-coming photographer I’m certain.

On to the next year!  

Don’t forget to keep sending the tops of all your used cards to St. Jude’s Ranch for kids with cancer.  They accept cards for any occasion from November to February.

 Here it is.  The end of another year.  After tossing challenges at you like crazy, I’m here to announce that The Greener Christmas Guide is coming to a close.  It’s getting packed away with all of the garland and pretty lights (though I’d secretly love to paint more sheets of blueprint wrapping paper!).  No need to cry.  We can do it again next year. 

So for now, why don’t we take a look at all we’ve done this year?

First we talked about Christmas cards and the 300,000 trees cut down to make them in the United States alone.  I decided to send digital cards to our family and friends, and some of you looked into recycled and paper-free card alternatives.

We brainstormed some not-made-in-China gift ideas.  It seemed a little daunting, but it turns out you can find lots of yummy foods and awesome gifts made right in your own community, including wine and champagne perfect for New Year’s.

I found a local nursery growing over 3,000 breathtaking poinsettias just a mile from my parents’ house in the US.  We brought home two of the beauties and couldn’t have been more pleased with our local purchase.

Handmade gift tags were lots of fun, too, weren’t they?  Many of us gathered scrap paper and bits of fabric that were heading to the garbage can.  Then we decorated our very own gift tags.

I shared some of the green Christmas gifts we like to put under our tree like yummy lotions and the things that bring our family together every holiday like board games.

The day after Christmas, we got busy with our thank you notes.  But we didn’t use any paper or ink.  We sent digital thank you notes with pictures of us enjoying our new gifts!  Several of you posed your new babies in their clothes and gifts; I think that’s just swell.  How many hearts did ya’ll melt?

Finally, yesterday we looked at our stacks of old holiday cards, and many of you quickly offered to donate old cards to St. Jude’s for children with cancer to turn into new cards.  Those cards are going to be repurposed into new cards for next year.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  I know where I want to get my paper cards to send to my grandmas! (the only people who don’t do digital)

A plastic bag takes thousands of years to break down.  If they had styrofoam in Jesus’s day, we’d still be looking at it.  And all the standing trees that don’t have to be cut down… just know that I’m proud of you.  Mother Earth is proud of you.  And one day, I know your kids will be proud of the green you.

Happy New Year, everyone!

(images from referenced pages of Making This Home)

November marks only the second month of Making This Home, and I think we’ve shared some wonderful things already.  Don’t you think?  Here’s a recap of some of those *oh-so-wild* times:

1. What’s on the Menu in Europe?  We snapped this photo at a Czech restaurant, and it still sends us rolling.

2. Why Biodegradable Laundry Soap? Save your skin from absorbing heaps of nasty chemicals by switching to a natural laundry soap.  Your skin will be all smiles.

3. Celebrating St. Martin’s Day.  Americans have Halloween; I’d say the German equivalent is St. Martin’s Day.  Double dose of fun at our house – it’s a namesake day, which is a bigger deal than a birthday in these parts.

4. How to Make Personalized Ikea Magazine Files.  Yeah, getting a little crafty.

5. Revealing a Few Secrets You Didn’t Know.  How about an introduction to the man behind our kitchen remodel who just happens to be my translator and best bud?

6. Giving the Kitchen a Little Facelift.  So speaking of our kitchen remodel, here was the latest with a glimpse of our crazy-small oven/microwave combo unit.

7. And last, we began our Greener Christmas Guide with discussions on environmentally friendly ideas for Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and food and gifts you can get locally.

Now on to December.  And the sander!

(Berlin street image by Katie for Making This Home)