Germany pictures are up. . . at least some.

All of the pictures I took in Germany are now on the webpage - www.cody-missy.com. I haven't finished the commentaries yet (it's late and I've got the bird flu and need my sleep), but plan to do so tomorrow. Dude also took a ton of pictures, which as soon as I track him down and torture him, I will put them up as well. Enjoy.

Make sure to watch Germany beat up on Argentina tomorrow - 10 am central time, ESPN!

Papertowel Inspiration

I buy cheap papertowels. Sparkle brand I think. I buy them because in every 12 pack there is at least 3 rolls with frogs on them and I like frogs. The other designs are okay too - some strawberries, maybe some flowers or seashells. So my frogs ran out, I went to the basement, got a new roll and realized my cheap papertowels are now inspirational. On each sheet: "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Okay, so I found that odd that my papertowels are now coming with inspirations. Maybe I've just had too much wine tonight. I should probably stop blogging now.

Why I love my husband-to-be . . .

There are about a zillion reasons, everything from the way he is so patient with my insane moods, my crazy way of doing things/going through life and my general nuttiness, to the way he puts the cap back on the toothpaste because he knows I like it that way. But on our trip one thing he said really stood out from the array of other things he does. It was warm out one day, but not particularly hot. A temperature that I would usually be quite comfortable with, but one that most people might comment on. Anyway, he said to me, quite nonchalantly, "Are you hot?" and I said something to the effect of, "Yeah, normally I love this temperature but for some reason I'm really warm." Feeling like that was a sort of odd question, I inquired, "Why do you ask?" He responded back, just as it were any old comment, "Because the hair on the back of your neck is curling and it usually does that when you get hot." For whatever reason, that really struck me. How in the hell does he notice me enough to know that the hair on the back of my neck curls when I'm hot!??! I don't even know that! You know that someone must really care about you to notice those little everyday things that no one else would ever take the time to learn or notice.

This trip also gave me a lot of time to think and really regroup - not only on Cody and our relationship (which I realized was even more special then I ever realized) but on live in general. Even with as hectic as things were and how much we were running around, being away from the US and the day to day grind really gave me a time to reflect. But since we're on the boy subject, I'll just note a quick thing on this topic and comment on the others as they strike me.

It's no secret that I'm not getting married at 21, or even 25 for that matter. Cody's not the first guy I ever dated. We've both lived lives, sometimes together and others separate, and had an opportunity to really see the world, sort to speak, in terms of what's out there in relationships. While on one hand, it would have been a great story to tell had we stayed together after high school and then college and then gotten married and had 3 kids by now, that's not what life had in store for us. On the other hand, we both got to really grow up and figure out who we really were as people individually and what we wanted from a relationship. This time around we really understood what it takes to make these things work, what works and what doesn't and most important, what we want and need to be happy in a relationship.

For me, that was not so easy to figure out. I had the sort of stupid Jerry McGuire attitude of wanting to find someone to "complete me." But in order for someone else to complete you, you have to be incomplete yourself. Only after being alone, being in good and bad relationships, did I realize that you have to be complete before you add another person. You can't (or at least I can't) need someone else to make you whole. And on that note, that's why I love Cody. He doesn't so much "complete me" as he does "complement me." He really lets me be me. And that's not an easy task. He doesn't expect to change me or want me to be someone else. The first time we dated I tried really hard to be what I thought he wanted and that just didn't work (obviously). This time around I'm me and it works for us. He lets me watch stupid cartoon movies (even if he hates them and thinks they're retarded, he accepts that's me). He understands when I get cranky and yell that it's not him but usually something else that's bothering me. He lets me dress like a stupid hippy and braid my hair into 156 braids and just understands that's me. He understands that sometimes I want him to come to Wal-Mart with me, not because I need help shopping or can't do it myself, but because I just want to spend time with him. I could go on and on and on here for pages and bore the death out of anyone who's even made it this far. But in the end, what I found (at least for me) is one of the most important things is finding someone who lets me be me, good and bad and the ugly. Thanks Cody for complimenting me.

We're back . . . now I have Bird Flu

Wow - what a trip. And what a few days back. Makes me really wish I were back in Germany. So we get back on Sunday, Glenn picked us up and brought us home and Cody proceeded to bed. I stayed up in an effort to try to get back on US time as soon as possible. So even though I was dead tired, I stayed up and cleaned a bit and did some laundry. Then I went to bed. Then I woke up at 5am (noon Germany time) and just couldn't get back to sleep. So I went to work. I checked my calendar and found I needed to be in Jefferson City for a mediation at 2pm. So I left work around noon and headed out. I stopped by the house to get a bottle of water, but then when I got back in the car it was dead. Totally dead. So I called the other attorney frantic, only to find out the mediation wa Tuesday! AGGG!! Now I had left work early to go to a mediation that didn't exist and my car was dead! So I waited until Cody got home and we went to Wal-Mart for a new battery - and four hours later we were still there. The good news we at least got some more cold medicine and Cody got a new watch (his old one broke somewhere in Switzerland). So we get home, both feeling like crap - I'm convinced we have the Bird Flu (for anyone who doesn't know my sense of humor, I'll go ahead and insert a disclaimer - WE DO NOT REALLY HAVE BIRD FLU - IT'S A JOKE!).
So yesterday I ended up at the mediation in Jefferson City and Cody worked late. I busted my butt when I got home trying to get the trip pictures downloaded but had hard drive space issues. I went through deleting everything I could think off which turned out to include my website creater, Frontpage. So when we finally got all the pictures downloaded I couldn't put them on the webpage. AGGGG!! Then Cody got home, fixed the disk space problem in about 2 minutes and I was an idiot for deleting everything. Now I can't reinstall Frontpage because I have a pirated copy and can't find my pirated key code!
So we get to bed after me wanting to throw the computer against the wall, only for me to wake up at 2am with the worst sore throat ever. So I take some medicine, get back to bed, only to wake up again at 6am when the medicine wore off and can't get back to sleep. So I go to work. I try to convince everyone I have bird flu but they don't buy it - though they did say if I infected them, they at least wanted a fun quarantine.
Now we're trying to figure out how to get the picture online while we eat our first tomato from our garden. At least there's a bright side. No sleep in Germany is way better then no sleep in St. Louis.

To the Germans . . .

My last post before we leave Germany is for Cody's German relatives (hopefully they'll read it).
. . .

Thank you all for EVERYTHING!! You have been so wonderful to us! We are so thankful to have such wonderful family in Germany and can not wait to come back to see you again! Thank you so much for taking us to the train station, picking us up at the train station, for all the food and beer, for all the wonderful gifts, and more then anything for all your time! You are all so wonderful and we had such a wonderful time in Germany with you! I am so lucky to marry into such a great family! We hope to see you at the wedding and on our next trip to Germany!! Thank so so much for everything! Viele Dank!

Back to Cody's family . . . back to internet

Wow -so many stories to tell! As much as I love to travel, I really can't wait to download all my pictures at home and have a chance to write up all the stories to go with each crazy adventure. :) Well, we're almost done. Almost back to our own beds and our own food (I hate schnitzel and if I ever see another Döner kabob it will be too soon) and our own pace, but at the same time I absolutely hate to say good-bye to Germany (and vacation). We're back at Cody's family now after spending a great few days in München and Berlin. We saw the fairytale castle that Disney modeled Cinderella's after, Neuswantein (that is most definitely spelled wrong), and the concentration camp, Daucau. After seeing Daucau (near Munich) we saw the Checkpoint Charlie museum of the Wall and a Jewish memorial in Berlin - talk about three depressing, yet very moving experiences. Now we're here, plan to watch the Germany game tomorrow (in case you are stuck in a hole or just hate sports, Germany made it to the second round with three wins and the US did not with 2 losses and one tie (which was given to them by an Italian own goal)), and catch our plane in Brussels on Sunday. Then expect in the near future a fantastic (as least I'll find it interesting) recount of the trip on the website. :)
So much to write about as there has been so much to think about and so much time to just let your mind wander rather then think about the laundry, the dishes, the bills, work, cleaning the house, working in the yard, working out, etc. Good times.
Hope all is good!

Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Lichetenstein . . . ROCK

Quick update. After leaving Cody's folks place we headed to the Rhine River valley where we spent two days going up and down the river on a boat and climbing mountains to see cool castles - quite cool. Then we took a train down to Switzerland, went to Basel, Interlachen, and some other city I can't remember. Then took a sight-seeing train through Lichtenstein and then stayed in Innsbrook (Austria) overnight. Today we arrived in Munich (yes, again - it rocks that much) where we spent the day mostly watching the World Cup games and touring the various beer gardens. Fun fun fun! I'm dreading going back to work on Monday already . . . .though I am looking forward to the wicked scrapbook I can make out of this trip!

Environmental Policies

One more thing - their environmental policies are awesome here! I'm sure I will write much much more about it when I get back, but just wanted to let anyone who was wondering know that!

German relatives ROCK!

Well, it's about 1 am here in Deutschland and we had a great day hanging out with Cody's awesome German relatives! We first went to Norbert's (not sure that's spelled right, but he's also known as "Mr. Blister" for the time he came to the US when Cody was a kid and got terribly burnt at Panama City beach) house and hung out with him and his wife and kid (cute four year old) for a while. Then we headed to Klause's house and had a fun family BBQ (in German style we had brats and pork chops (I think that's what it was)). Great time was had by all! I absolutely love his German relatives!! They are so wonderful and even though I speak very little and very bad German, they are so patient with me and really try to understand me and try to speak English with me as much as they can (their English is way better then my German!). Tomorrow morning we are off to the Rhine River to see some of the old castles down there and to take a boat on the river for a while. I do insist on finding a place to watch the USA v. Italy game tomorrow though - don't miss it!!! I believe it's at 9 pm here so that would be about 3 pm in Tally and 2pm in STL. Also, if anyone happened to tape any of the games we saw (mentioned in previous post), especially the USA v. Czech game, please let me know because we had great seats and during the USA the Czech guy who scored ran right in front of us (we had first row tickets to the right of the goal) so I'm thinking we might have been on TV. :) Now that we'll be leaving his relatives, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find internet again soon, but I'll try. Take care!

Deutchland ist sehr gut!

Greeting from Germany! I have finally found internet at the same time that blogger is working - no small miracle I tell you! Anyway, we have had so many crazy adventures so far - too many to possibly post right now, but all is good. As some of you may know, American Airlines totally screwed up our flight out of St. Louis so we didn't actually arrive in Paris until the day after we were supposed to - that left us with about two days to do all of Paris - not a possible feat - thanks to crappy American Airlines (who by the way did nothing at all to compensate us for losing an entire day of our trip). Upon arriving in Paris it took us almost 2 hours to get out of the airport because none of us speek ANY French and we couldn't figure out these stupid machines or then how to get change (we got Euros but needed coins instead of bills for the machines). Anyway, we got out of the airport, onto the train to Paris, got a hotel and saw as many of the sights we could in two days - The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Sacre Coure, St. Sulpice (yes, Jason and I both recently read The Da Vinci Code), etc. Then we were off to Köln (Cologne for American's) where Cody's uncle (actually just an older cousin, but an uncle of sorts) picked us up and took us to his home in Marl. We hung out with his family that night and had quite a little party.
The next day the madness really began! We woke up (after sleeping a ton since we got no sleep on our crappy airplane ride and were still behing), went to The World Cup Fan Fest in Gelsinkirchen (not spelled right), and then we were off to our first World Cup game - US v. Czech Republic. In case you've been stuck in a box for a week, we got killed 3-0, but the experience was AMAZING! Most games we follow in America, the teams play for their city - in the World Cup they are playing for their entire country - and while in America we might not find that too intriguing (not great soccer fans), in the rest of the world that is HUGE! Great game nonetheless. That night we were on a train to Berlin for our next game - long messed up train story goes here but not enough time to write it all out. We finally arrived in Berlin the next morning, met up with Cody's family who had driven there (because his cousin Patrick was going to the game with us in Berlin) and were off to see the sights of Berlin. Great time, but everyone's feet were hurting like crazy by the end of the day. Seeing the Berlin Wall in person was quite an experience - as was Brandenburg Tor (that's the Brandenburg Gate). The game that night was Brazil (reigning World Cup winners for those that don't follow such things) v. Croatia (not a great team but their fans were amazing). The energy in that game was palpable (especically compared to the relatively lame and subdued US fans). Brazil, of course, won. Then we were on our second night train in a row to Munich. At least this one was over four hours so we got a few hours of sleep. Munich was a much different city, but still very neat. They are VERY into their beer gardens. :) The game that night was Tunisa v. Saudi Arabia. Another great set of fans who were really into the game and loved their country's team. After this game, we hung out at a beer garden watching Germany win their second World Cup match in the last minute. The entire country shuts down when their team plays - quite an amazing thing to see. Then we were on yet ANOTHER night train - this time to Hamburg. The train was booked solid so Jason and I actually slept on the floor under the luggage racks (we have great pictures of this). While that may sound pretty crappy, I must admit is was more comfortable then sleeping in the train seats (even though we have a first class train pass - not by choice though since we're now all too old to get the second class passes - good thing though since second class has been booked on every train we've been on and first has been relatively easy to get seats). Our last game was Costa Rica v. Equador in Hamburg. Another great stadium, more great teams and spirit, but by this time we were all dead tired - we were just simply beat after having slept so little on the trains. Off we were after the game for one more train ride - this time to Essen where Cody's cousin/uncle picked us up and brought us back to his family's home in Marl. We ate and then passed out, not waking up until 14 hours later, more because we were hungry then over our tiredness. :) So that's where we are now, hanging out with his family, trying to figure out where our adventures take us next. So many more adventures to tell of, but they'll have to wait until I'm back on an American keyboard and have more time.
Hope all is well back in the states!
Oh - one more thing - I'm actually learning a bit of German -this from a person who took YEARS of Latin and learned nothing and who lived in France for two months and learned no French! I'll impress everyone when I return with "Das is gut" and such! Take care!

Officially Gone.

We're heading out. Have fun out there while we're gone. I hope to post blog updates while we're gone but we'll have to see how that works out for me. :) Take care - many stories (and random pictures) to come. . . . . Don't hold your breath.

Website Update

FYI - New pictures are now up on the website (the last update B.G - Before Germany) - some of my backyard project, my birthday weekend and other random stuff. Enjoy. About 24 hours left until we take off and we have about 48 hours worth of stuff to do - though we do have the preliminary packing done. :)

100th POST!

Why the insane number of posts tonight? Well, when I logged on to blog, intending to write a quick Germany blog, I realized I was at 96 posts. So I posted away until I hit 100! Yippee! I have written a hundred entries, posted into cyberspace, about not-a-hell-of-a-lot. Anyway, I'm going to try to stay updated as much as I can while overseas but it's all going to depend on the availablility of internet cafes, my willingness to take time out to use them, and my general disposition of the day. :)

Germany here we come!

Well, about 38 hours until we hop on the plane for our World Cup adventure! I just realized that I've yet to post our tentative itinerary here so here goes: Thursday: leave STL, fly through Chicago to Paris. Friday, Saturday and Sunday: Paris. Sunday: train to Essen to see Cody's relatives. Monday: drive to Gelsenchirken with Cody's cousin (Patrick) to see USA v. Czech Republic that night, then drive to Berlin. Tuesday: Berlin - watch Brazil v. Crotia - train to Munich. Wednesday: Munich - watch Tunisa v. Saudi Arabia - train to Hamburg. Thursday: Hamburg - watch Costa Rico - train back to Berlin. Here's where it gets more speculative. The rest of the trip we're going to try to hit Berlin (again, because one day just isn't enough to see Berlin), then Krakow (Poland for those asleep during geography class) and Auschwitz, possible Prague and Vienna, then back to Munich (again, can't see this one in the one day we'll be there for the game) and Neuschwanstein (the castle Cinderella's castle at Disney was modeled after), then up the Rhine River to see the castles and wineries, only to arrive at Brussels to eat some chocolate and waffles and fly out. This WAS our plan until we realized that of the 18 countries on our Eurorail pass, Poland is not one of them. So it's stupid for us to pay to go there when there are 18 other countries we can travel by train to for FREE (well, not free but we already paid for them). So now we're back to square one - where to go in the eastern portion of Europe that will take our passes and still be cool? Humm.... Things to ponder on the plane ride over. Good thing no one we're going with is really up on the planning thing . . . .

Myspace

So there's this thing called Myspace apparently. According to 60 minutes it leads to kids to be abducted, raped and killed. Deserted allies? No longer an issue. Myspace is the new deserted ally- or so says 60 minutes - and it will ruin your kids. Good thing I'm not a kid. :) Anyway, point being, I signed up a while ago but never bothered to check it. So, my brother David (formerly known as Jack and even more formerly, known as David), sent an email the other day and in his signature block was his Myspace account. So I checked it out, added him as a friend and now I'm up to FIVE friends! I have FIVE friends! And they're all people I know - not just the guy named Tom that everyone automatically gets as a friend! Anyway, I think it's going to be pretty cool. It has a blog feature but since I have this blog I'm just going to find a way to feed it into the myspace blog - easier said then done. Anyway, if any of my five friends are reading this - welcome to my blog!

Birthday Weekend

Wow - been a while since I blogged last (yes, I suppose "blogged" can be a verb, as I realized "Wikipedia" can also be a verb today - as in "I don't buy that crap, let's Wikipedia it.")! Since last Wednesday, I had my very own "birthday weekend" - I figured since it seems all of our STL friends celebrate their birthday's for obnoxious amounts of time (the best was Jeffy's "birthday month" - NO FAIR) I could too. Anyway, two of the things I love the most I hardly ever get here and that's the sun and water - so we went to Greg's pool and hung out. Cody, of course, neglected the sunscreen and got burned, I sported the baby oil and got just a darker shade of my new midwest pale (in Florida I always enjoyed my skin - here it's an odd shade of yellow - midwest pale, I call it). Fun in the sun is always good. Then we went out.
On Sunday, Meghan, Danny and the baby came over and we went to the Botanical Gardens (one mof my top three STL places, along with The Zoo and City Museum) so I could check out the Chihuly (glass sculptor dude) art stuff around the garden. Quite cool (I'll post pictures on the website later). Elizabeth actually seemed to be enjoying the gardens until the end and then she got tired and just did nost want to be there anymore. So we left, had a yummy veggie lasagna and cheese cake (courtesy of the Meghan kitchen), and hung out.
Yesterday, on the actual b-day we hung out, went to The Shafly Brewery with Marissa and Cassidy and hung out at home working on getting together for Germany!
Thanks to all who sent their birthday wishes and made it special - much appreciated!