Falling With Style

Much to my surprise, MH and I went skydiving for my birthday! Cross another thing off of our bucket list, 2011 is going to be a hard year for us to beat.

MH and I All Geared Up And Ready To Go

The whole experience was truly something else. Since we did tandem jumps, we didn't have to worry about any of the technical details (e.g. pulling the rip cord for our parachute to open or landing safely). However, gathering the courage to jump out of the plane at 12,500 feet was a big enough challenge for me. Despite being a frequent flier, 12,500 feet feels much different when you are expected to launch yourself out of the plane.

After experiencing skydiving once, my favorite part of the jump were those few seconds after my tandem jumper and I left the plane. I don't know how to describe it but I would definitely do it again. I think there are a few other activities on the list to do first though so we'll just have to wait and see what our next adventure is.

A Lot Of Lattes

I've never been an avid coffee drinker. On occasion, I enjoy a white chocolate mocha or caramel macciatto to get my sugar fix, but I never drink a straight cup of coffee. I recently discovered that my quick morning pick me up is a hot tea latte.

In Africa and my recent work trips abroad, I became fond of drinking tea with breakfast, in the mid-afternoon, and after dinner, so when I returned home I decided to continue the routine. To indulge my new habit, MH convinced me to get a Capresso froth pro automatic milk frother and it has quickly become my most used kitchen gadget.

While my tea steeps, I pour some milk into the Capresso and in a quick couple minutes I have beautifully frothed milk for a tea latte. Finding the perfect ratio of tea, sugar, and milk took a couple of tries but I think I got it. So far, my favorite creation has been my earl grey tea lattes. Yum!

Pop Goes My Tart

I don't recall how or why I decided to make home made pop tarts. Making pop tarts from scratch is definitely not cost effective considering it took me several of hours to make them and you can purchase a box of eight from the grocery store for less than $3. However, it was a fun activity and I would do it again because they were such a delicious morning treat. They may just have to be rectangles/circles instead of animals to make the production time a little more reasonable.

Home Made Strawberry Compote Filled Pop Tarts

Shout out to T&J for MH and my new Silpat. It came in handy when I was making these suckers! We hope you enjoyed your pop tart samples.

Guten Tag From Austria!

To add some excitement to our schedule, my co-workers and I drove to Salzburg, Austria for the weekend. Unfortunately, we hit traffic leaving town on Friday evening so it took us a little longer than expected to get there, but once we arrived in Austria everything was great.

On Saturday, we took a historical tour of Eagle's Nest, Obersalzberg, and the Bunker System. Eagle's Nest is a tea house that was built on top of the Kehlstein mountain on the edge of the cliff as a 50th birthday gift for Adolf Hitler. Obersalzberg is a small community above Berchtesgarden that was taken over by the Nazi Party, and the Bunker System, is a series of underground bunker complexes that were built below the mountain as an air raid shelter, war headquarters and possible last refuge for the leaders of the Reich. It was interesting to learn about Hitler as a person and his role developing the country of Germany before leading it to its ruin.

Eagle's Nest

The rest of the weekend we spent our time exploring the city of Salzburg and visited a few of the spots that were made famous by the film The Sound of Music. I must admit that I have never watched the movie from beginning to end, but I was told that Fraulein Maria and the Trapp children ran down the hedge arcade along the Grand Parterre in the park pictured below.

Mirabell Park & Garden

As the sun set, we hiked up to the Salzburg fort and caught this breathtaking sight of the city. The section in front of the river is considered Old Town Salzburg where you can find most of the "must see" city sights.

If you ever visit Austria, please stop into a cafe and have an iced chocolate drink for me. I wish I were there enjoying one now! They are D-E-L-I-S-H!

Bonjour from Switzerland!

For the past two weeks I was working in Switzerland for an audit, and after my co-workers and I punched out for the day we would go exploring. Unfortunately, almost everything in Switzerland is closed on Sundays, Mondays, after 5 PM during the week. So, most of our adventures were limited to sight seeing and window shopping, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

Neuchatel Garden Park

Downtown Bern

Callier Chocolate Factory in Bulle

Unfortunately, the tour of the Callier Chocolate Factory is the epitome of lame. However, it is fun to be able to try all of the different kinds of chocolate they make in their tasting room at the end of the tour. Visitors beware, I only had a handful of samples and gave myself a stomach ache because they were so rich!