Throwback Thursday: Bug Blame

I blame my travel bug on them. I also thank them for it. It's one of those itches that's so good to scratch!

Throwback Thursday: Frau took Friends to Frankfurt.

This throwback isn't even one of my own. But one of the people is sitting on the couch next to me, and another is someone I saw over Christmas that I hadn't seen since probably 2000. But that's neither here nor there. And neither is this picture really. It was taken Tim's senior year of high school when he took a school summer trip to Germany. In fact, that summer was the same summer that the Nordyke clan also ventured to Germany. Our trips overlapped by about a day. I'm pretty sure that trip began his travel bug. The stories that came out of that trip are quite entertaining. Just not one for the interwebs! So sorry kids. Boring picture for you, yet again!

Holiday Festivities: Food and Friends in Boston!

Here's our December trip to Boston in pictures. It pretty much sums it up. Drama in airplanes and airports, shopping, lots of tasty food, amazing friends, and then even more food and shopping!

The Blackberry.

I adore British humor. I also adore old British men trying to keep a straight face.

Sayonara 2010!

New Year's Eve this year was quite the event. Or at least that's what my head told me the next morning, and in looking through the pictures, my head wasn't lying. It seems to have been controlled insanity, just the way a New Year's Eve should be! Tim was unable to celebrate with us though, as he was stuck working at the restaurant. So off I went to dinner with Julie, Ryan, Nate, Caleb, and Nick. Brown Bottle in Waterloo. Classier than pretty much all of us combined, but saved by the fact that any restaurant in Waterloo is instantly accepting of anyone, or they go bankrupt. As its Julie's utmost fave holiday, it's demanded that we dress up. Which I so totally don't mind, its a reason to be extra pretty! After dinner, we were to make a quick stop at Screaming Eagle, a wannabe/halfsie biker bar where women aren't afraid to show their rack assets, and men have mullets and are missing teeth. It was packed, but we ended up staying the whole night. Here is proof that we know how to start a new year right!Caleb totally knows how to rock the pocket square.
I feel like this picture rather describes the evening....


The whole shebang.
The cute quaint kiss.
The disturbing and totally scary one!

Good bye 2010!

Winter should end on New Years.

I figured I would throw a few December randoms up for your pleasure. Starting with what should be next year's Christmas card. The actual photos evolved from just Tim trying to bite the back of my head, into this piece of cute anger.

And then the few obligatory winter photos that make you ooh and aah with its peaceful white, until you realize you have to go outside and your skin shrinks a few sizes just thinking about the windchill......

My heart is my tummy.

Last Thursday was our four year anniversary of not totally hating eachother. I ended up having to work a game at UNI until 9ish, but Tim didn't work at all (kind of odd really), so he decided he was going to make dinner himself and have it ready the moment I got home. Sounds cute and sweet, right? 

And it totally was, until by 10oclock, I was waddling around like an obese cow/penguin hybrid. 

Appetizer, cause we all need apps at 930 at night: Mozzarella/sweet tomato chunks on a bed of spinach.
Main meal: Rouladen (super thin beef rolled around a dill baby pickle and then simmered in crazy juices for a few hours), corn/green bean bread pudding stuff, and crescent rolls.
And then dessert that I had made earlier that day, not knowing the insanity that he was going to make all that for dinner, was Pavlova. Its an Australian thing, basically like merengue? I think thats the closest comparison. Fluffy, white, light, and delicious with fruit.
We ended up skipping the wine. Im pretty sure that would have ended with having to roll me around the house.

So fat. So good. More please!

Dear Lord Baby Jesus!: Part 6, People, its been awhile!

By the time Christmas night rolls around, people are desperate to get away from their families. Not me of course, I adore mine, but others that I actually want to see. People come home for Christmas, Thanksgiving too, and those are the times that I avoid the local bars like the plague because really, let's face it, you don't need to see a GINORMO chunk of the people you went to high school with. But last year, an old friend invited pretty much all of his friends, (facebook is glorious) out one of the nights before Christmas. It was a killer time, so many old faces and crazy stories. Well, it was recreated this year. It was slightly smaller, but to me, a million times more insane. I walked in the door, and within two seconds saw two faces that I seriously have probably not seen since i was 17. I won't bore with anymore details, but it was quite an amazing evening. Catching up with people that I never thought I would have conversations with again. Christmas ended well. :-)

Classy Work Conversations.

Within my first hour of work today, I have heard the following.

I discussed with my grandfather about how eating at Pizza Ranch really is like dinner theater. He quite loves to watch the less than trim ladies with tweety bird shorts mow down on pepperoni delights.

And this gem:

joe: i was a flower child
dad: if i ever let him, joe would tell you quite the stories of his youth
joe: I could have been poster child.
me: for an a&e reality rehab show?
joe: .....no, at the post office....

Part 5: Working the Christmas Magic. Photostyle.

What better a time than Christmas to force the whole family into a photo shoot?!? Actually, it's my mom that forces this one, but it still turns into a pretty amusing time....




And then my brother hides under the stairs....doof.

More Food! Part Four: Christmas Dinner.

Our lovely friend Jayson was forced to stay in Cedar Falls for the holiday, despite his family all being in Minnesota, so he joined us for the Christmas Day Dinner of prime rib. If you know me, I don't eat beef, but at this meal, even not eating the main course, there was NO shortage of food.


Not even my pumpkin pie! Cause pumpkin pie is gross. Monkeys chew up pumpkins and then spit them in the can to sell as pumpkin filling. Yup, that's what my daddy taught me as a small child, so it MUST be true! Icky!

This Frosty head has been at my grandparents ever since I can remember, they had a lot of decorations that i couldnt really play with growing up, but this one was near the back stairs, and we could twist his nose to hear the song play any time we wanted. Well, its been probably a decade, but I twisted that nose and tried to document the moment of nostalgia. Tim decided nostalgia was stupid and needed to butt in ;)

Just. Can't. Stop.

Hello. My name is Clare. And I am addicted to dates...

I have a date addiction. Not like dating either. Actual dates. Medjool dates go into my mouth like they are pieces of celery. Tasty glorious juicy sticky sweet celery.

The dates must stop.

Rise and Shine!: Part Three, Christmas Morn.

Mass chaos...and the kitties LOVED the paper and bows, but most of all, the boxes.

Forget Santa! He has the UNI Panthers!
Only my brother could care so little about getting presents, and actually sleep on them.
My mother is 100% anti putting collars on her cats. So Tim and I brought over a Christmas collar for Sydney. Instantly Mom wanted a picture with the cuteness. There is hope for styling Sydney and Kenya yet!

The only picture of me all morning that doesn't make me look like 350 pounds. It's insane. EVERY picture I look like I ate Santa... AND the reindeer.

And of course, this event was followed by something equally as awesome. I was just so enthralled with eating my breakfast Christmas Casserole and Monkey Bread that I could NOT be bothered with taking pictures of it! I was too busy stuffing my face. And all was well with the world.

Stockings Hung: Part two, Christmas Eve.

Step one of Christmas Eve Traditions: Gorge ourselves on appetizers and punch. Check. Grandma's meatballs this year, impeccable!

Step two: Open our stockings, always including toothbrushes and nail clippers. Grandma found the gloriousness of Amazon and bought dad an entire case of Bit O Honey online.

Step Three: Christmas Eve service. The past few years we have tried new churches. And none of them have candles. This torques me!

Step Four: Gift Opening with the Grandparents! This year was a new way of doing it. At Thanksgiving, Grandma gave out money with the instructions to buy our own gifts, wrap them up, and then bring them over to unwrap and show everybody what we got! It ended up working really well and was still just as exciting to see what everyone else got themselves.

Step Five: Total sillyness with the boys while the girls do real work! With food!
Step Six: Oyster stew dinner. And some other soup for those that don't enjoy soup with bugs in it. Red and green jello on the side. A must!
Step Seven: Dessert immediately following the gut busting dinner, so you might as well just subscribe to bulimia now. Homemade ice cream and a million cookies and bars. This year, add the joyous treat of watching Grandma ask Grandpa where the brandy was....for cherries jubilee of course ;)

Step Eight: Go home and pass out from a food coma, only to wake early the next morning for more insane awesomeness.

Christmas in the Haus!: Part One, Decor.