Operation Tubetop

Sup? Sup? Sup? The week is winding down and this weekend the Husband and I are taking another weekend trip. Just the two of us and a barrel of wine. The Mother in Law has generously offered to take care of the Kid once again and we figured it would be good for us to take advantage of her offer... before she changes her mind. We are heading to Waidhofen an der Ybbs which is about a 90 minute train ride from Vienna. We have already stayed in this town... and actually, the same hotel, but that was years ago, before child. Before exhaustion. Before real life. I'm looking forward to some fresh air and to finally getting to go into this castle. Last time we were here, it was under construction and the Husband took away my grappling hooks to scale the walls. Dammit G! Just let me see their colour scheme. The town is along a rapidy river and if I remember correctly, there is a nice walking path through the forest. I cannot wait! P.S. if you don't hear from me by Monday, G di...

Hello my lovelies! Last night I did another dinner inspired by a film thingy and it was a mucho success... well, I think it was - my arteries? Not so much. Anyway, expect the pics and post in a day or two as well as the draw of the Operation Tubetop giveaway! Just need the Kid to stay still long enough to pick a damn name out of a hat. I digress. As you probably know, July and August has been a real emotional struggle and ergo, I have not stuck to the challenge. I was gung-ho and then tragedy hit... so now I need to get back on the wagon and start the whole challenge again. One friend stuck to it (I am so incredibly proud of her!) and has lost 11 pounds. I find that incredible and when she wrote that last night, I felt like I had to kick my tuckus back into gear. And so, once again, I am announcing the 12 week challenge starting September 1st. YAAAAY! Here we go again! I find that September 1st is a great day to start for a few reasons. One, it is a Monday. Two, it is the begin...

Where livers go to die. You probably saw on Facebook that I had a wild evening at the Neustifter Kirtag on Satuday. This once a year event is like my New Year's Eve - like when I was 20 and didn't have a toddler screaming  "MOOOOMMMMYYYYY!!" every ten minutes and knocking my Gatorade all over the sheets. Every year, for at least the past 4 years, I head to a friend's house in the vineyards and pre-party for the infamous Kirtag. Kirtag, loosely translated, means "dress in too tight traditional Austrian garb and tie one on" and by "tie one on", I mean, do some macrame around your liver. In recent years, these types of events have exploded in popularity. The dirndl is back "in" and that makes me happy. Well, happy when I can actually fit into one. This year, once again, I lost all feeling in my breasticles but.... worth it. If I just breathe in, real tight.... Around 3 I got to my friend's house and a bottle of prosecco was...

It's that time again. I get to be a poor man's Oprah. An incredibly poor, down on her luck Oprah. An Oprah that should apply for food stamps, perhaps sell some clothes on Ebay. Poor poor man's Oprah. Last time I said that everyone who participated and didn't win would automatically be back in the running this time. The peeps are: Kat, Sarah T., Giovanna, Angela, Dragi and Debra. Please let me know if I missed anyone! If your name isn't above, then you have to werk it. To qualify for the giveaway, all you have to do is share my blog on your wall and then let me know so that I can add your name to the raffle. And this is what I'm giving away! Yeah, I like them too. So good luck and God speed and remember, I will mail these to anywhere in the world! Competition ends Sunday evening 6 p.m. Central European Time.

So my hair is dark brown and all is well in the world. Yesterday, after work, before hosting my film inspired dinner, I decided that I should check out some dirndls. I have two already. One fits which means that I am not fatter than last year but one does not fit which means that I am fatter than two summers ago. This is like an SAT question, right here. Anywho, I thought I would cheer myself up and consider purchasing another one. A friend discovered that C&A were selling some at amazing prices and after we oohed and aahed over the Interwebs, I decided to go forth and check them out. I picked out a couple in what I thought were bigger than my size so that mentally I could be all like "Oh shucks. Need to try a smaller size. How droll." Yeah, that didn't happen. I huffed and puffed and got the side zipper up only to my hip. I looked in the mirror and thought "Not today, Shamu". I'll take a size Orca. Thanks. After a couple of tries, I gave up and ...

Oh you guys. I did a bad thing. A very bad thing. I was away for the weekend for a funeral and I will write about that soon because it was a life-changing event and I am so glad that I was able to be there. So that will be a post in a day or two... but back to the very bad no good thing I did. I dyed my hair. Now, I be no stranger to the at-home hair dye. In fact, I probably could major in chemistry by now or test positive for asbestos. I have had every hair colour you could ever imagine and I would like to believe that I rocked them all. Well, depending on the lighting and my make up. So anyway, I got it into my head that I wanted to be a redhead again. Stupid stupid. I figured that after my recent haircut, I would have healthier hair and that the colour would just take to it. I figured wrong. Oh so very wrong. Monday morning, after a quick run to the drug store, I locked the Kid out of the bathroom (3.5 year olds are determined little buggers - we need to re-paint the door) and appli...

Back to work and back to semi-normal life. I have a 3 day work week because I am flying to Zurich and then taking a train to Germany on Thursday evening for the funeral on Friday. Wish me luck that I don't end up in France. And I am totally being serious about that. When I had to meet the Husband on Friday for our trip to Graz, I told him I would take the city train to meet him. He wrote me like 3 times to make sure I knew to get on the right train. I'm sorry that I have the worst sense of direction, dude. Just cause I call you once in a while for you to look up my location on Google Maps when I get lost in a district I am not familiar with does not mean I can't find the right train. It happened only 10 times. Get over it. Jeeeeeez. Anyway, I know that the Husband is currently printing out schedules of every possible train I can take on Thursday night to get to my final destination. He worries so. Our weekend trip away was amahzing. Will write about that in a day or so....

Woot! Friday! And this Friday is the bestest of Fridays because this afternoon, the Husband and I are heading on a mini-break to Graz. For about 6 months we have been thinking of going away (just us two) but things kept popping up. Now it is official, we are going away for the weekend. I am really excited! Oh the TV we will watch! I cannot wait! So let's have a Friday wrap-up! Saturday: Did Bikram in the morning then headed to my friend's place for a bit. She didn't remember which capsules were caffeine-heavy and which ones were caffeine-free so we had two cups each of the varying kind. I believe both were caffeine-heavy. I flew a little. Then we headed to the supermarket and picked up provisions for my low-carb style lasagne and cheesecake. We got home, I made dinner, we chatted, we ate and then called it a night. Sunday: Friend joined me at Bikram and then came over for some coffee and more sweating. The rest of the morning involved laundry and cleaning. In the aftern...

Bonjour! Welcome to the second attempt at the challenge regarding food inspired by films. The other week I made a dinner in honour of Under the Tuscan Sun and it was a hit. For me. It was a hit for me. I hope you just read the last couple of sentences in a French accent because, bien sur. Tu parles le Francais, non? I don't either, I really don't. I should. But I don't. Anyway, as you might know, I want to go into my pea-sized brain and think of my favourite films from the past and make a meal based on some of them. I will, of course, re-watch the film and realize "ZOMG! I am so old! Why does Kevin Kline look younger than my husband in this film? WHY GOD WHY?" cough. Anyway, let's get started. Why must you age, Jean? Why? Back in the 90's, while living in Vienna, my father asked me if I wanted to join him for an event that Air Canada was hosting with the French Embassy. I answered "Mais oui, papa!" or, most likely being a sullen angsty ...