my dreadie post

Okay, what I'm about to write on here is just going to be copied from my journal entry that I wrote this afternoon while I was out on my independent Jena adventure! (Ryan had language school today and I didn't, hehe). I have been wanting to talk about my desire to get dreads, soooo here it goes!

Today is Friday and I didn't have to go to school! I went on a long walk into town by myself, saw an elephant, saw a wedding, bought some yarn, took pictures, thought about life, thought about dreads and now I'm here sitting at the river with the warm summer sun on my shoulders.

Dreadies: Why do I want them??? I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I feel like most everyone who has dreads also has this deep spiritual soul story that goes along with them. I don't think I have one of those.

I have always deeply cared about how people see me. Not in a "I need to be popular" sort of way, but I have always seen myself as a sort of people pleaser. I don't necessarily think that that is always a bad thing, but hm... I don't know, sometimes it really wares on me. Most of my family and friends know that I have been thinking about dreads, and let me tell ya... They are not all thrilled about the idea :) But here is the thing, I think they are beautiful and I think they would be beautiful on me... so I think I should get them! I don't mean any of this in a "screw you all!" sort of way, I just need to know that I can feel beautiful and good about myself with out relying on the opinions of others. The only thing that I know I need to take into account is the feelings of my husband and let me tell ya, and am so blessed to have a supportive husband who knows me and loves me no matter what I do with my hair! He's the best! So that's that I think. I have had one little lovely dreadie for a week now, and now I can't wait to get some more!

So, feel free to comment :) If you have questions about me having dreads, go ahead and ask! And yes, I can wash them :)

Can you see my dread?! It's so cute!

chinese food, knitting and flohmarkts

So far God has blessed me with some really great girl friends here in Jena. This weekend I was lucky enough to spend some time with a couple of them. My new friend TianTian is a girl from my German school who is here getting her doctorate degree as well as working in the institute on lung cancer research. Both her and her husband came to Jena from China a couple of years ago. They invited Ryan and I over for dinner last night and not just any dinner.... A Real Chinese Dinner!!! We were sooooo excited! And let me tell ya, we were not disappointed because everything was so amazingly good. The night was filled with laughter, language barriers, good conversation despite it all, Chinese dumplings, fresh soy milk...fresh almond milk, camera talk, and yes.... even KNITTING!

I have been bringing my knitting to class sometimes to work on during break and earlier in the week TianTian told me she wanted to learn! So a few days ago after class, we went to the local yarn shop and picked out some yarn for her :) She caught on SO fast and in like 20 minutes she was already almost as fast as I am at knitting! So I'm delighted to be able to say that I have found me new knitting buddy!



There is a Chinese Christian home church in the city that meets with our church sometimes, so I have really been encouraging TianTian an her husband to come to church sometime when the Chinese group is there!

AND this morning I got to hang out with my new friend Ashleigh! Ashleigh married a man from Jena in April and she just moved here last month! She is also in my German class AND she is also from the Bay Area in California! We pretty much hit it off right away and let me tell ya, it is SOOOO nice to be able to spend time with another American sometimes :)



So anyway, her and her hubby picked me up this morning and we went to a local Flohmarkt (flea market) to do some exploring! I got a couple things, but my dear little Ashleigh go more than the car... and her husband.... could handle! But we just kept telling him it was necessary because it's her dream to open up a vintage home interior decor shop in Jena someday, so she needs to find cool things to put in her shop! :) It was really a ton of fun and we both got to practice our German!




So that is just a little bit of what has been going on in Elyse world lately! I'm loving my German life!

ps- Be sure to always check on my Flickr account for all of my pictures!

my new german life

well, today is the first day that we have had internet in our apartment! Since my last post I have been spending the last month-ish trying to figure out how I fit into my new crazy German life.

Internship stuff is going great (see our Germany blog for more detail)but even aside from what we're doing in our church and other things for the internship, there are so many other things we both have been having to adjust to and deal with everyday. For me it's been trying to figure out how to make this new apartment, city, state, country, continent... feel like home :) As a wife, as a friend, and as a creative person, I ave been having to find out where my certain elyse groove is. I think it's been working out quite well, but it is always a process.

I just have to say, I love this city. Jena is so beautiful (in an eastern Germany post- communist sort of way) teehee. It really is so full of charm, history and culture. I'll go into more later, but for now I'm going to show you some pictures :)

our adventures... so far

!!!! Ah!!!! So much has happened since I posted last! Well to sum it all up, our few days in Napa before Mexico were amazing and then Mexico was SUPER AMAZING! And then going back to Napa for a few days after Mexico was definitely a blessing. THEN, trying for about 35 hours to fly to Virginia was finally successful (we got to spend a not so lovely night on the floor of the LA airport...) and for sure worth it because our time in Virginia was awesome! But at the end of our time in VA came the 18 1/2 hour car ride back to Illinois... which was not AS awesome but still an adventure :)

SO.... as you can see we have been a little busy. OH! And we MOVE TO GERMANY in like 3 days!!!!! WHAT?!!? it's so crazy. Our life is so crazy right now, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.... not even a Yorkie puppy.

Here are some photo highlights from the places we have been in the last few weeks!

MEXICO: We spend a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico a the Paradise Village. It was SOOOOOO fun! It was me and my brother's like 4th or 5th time going there but me and my husband's first together, so it was really nice to escape and relax a bit.... well, a lot. :) We had so many fun adventures while in Mexico. There next few pictures show some of those adventures, like having a little zoo at the resort full of tigers, going para sailing and catching a Mahi Mahi on our fishing trip!





BACK TO NAPA, CA: After Mexico we spent another 5 days in Napa. This was great because we got to throw a little party for us to be able to share some Germany information with all of the CA people that we love but hardly ever get to see. That evening was amazing, and you can read more about it on our Germany blog. We also just chilled with our family a lot and really tried to enjoy being in CA for the last time until after Germany and who knows how much longer after that. It was very sad to leave. I don't think I have been that homesick-y kind of sad when leaving so many times before, but it was really hard to say goodbye this time. We'll be back friends and family to see you soon! In the mean time, Skype with us please!!!!


VIRGINIA: We were in Virginia for 3 full days to see my mother in law's side of the family, It was fun because both of my hubby's siblings were there and I just love them so much. We went to a crazy huge fourth of July party and did a lot of eating and playing games. My grandparents in law live on an old plantation, the Love Plantation and it was so pretty! I had never been to Virginia before, so that was really fun to be able to go somewhere new!

when two worlds collide

Artesa, originally uploaded by breathe4luck.

Wow, what a day today! Last night our two good friends Shana Stine and Jenny Jenkins drove into Napa and stayed the night at my parents house with us! We stayed up late laughing and talking outside by the fire and then got up this morning to get ready for a wonderful Napa adventure. First, we went to a favorite winery of my family's, Artesa. This is where that photo above was taken. We then went to one of my MOOOSSST favorite Mexican restaurants, Villa Carona and got massive huge wonderful burritos for lunch. After lunch we headed "up valley" (a new favorite yuppie term of Jenny and Shana's) to St. Helena to go to a guided tour of a winery called Beringer. After our crazy Napa adventues we headed back to the house, napped a bit and said our goodbyes :(

It will be six months till we get to see Jenny again, and probably about a year until we can see Shana again, so it was very hard to see them go. BUT we know that we will meet again and in the meantime, God is doing really cool things in all of our lives, so we can't help but be excited for each other! So right now, those crazy girls should be pulling into their Yosemite camp site and headed to bed soon! Girls, hope no wild animals try and break into your tent tonight, yikes!

-Elyse Aubrie

For more pics from today and yesterday, please check out my Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elyseaubrie/

california fun

These pictures coming up pretty much perfectly describe our time in California so far. Being back "home" in Napa is always so much fun! Yesterday my Dad, brother and hubby and I went and saw my grandparents which was totally fun! I love visiting with them, they're crazy! That picture above is one that my hubby took while we were all talking and laughing!

When we got back from our visit with them, Ryan and I went to Target to get a Hula Hoop for me! We also got some other fun things for hanging out at the park and spent all evening playing at Fuller Park. I love hooping because it's just so feminine and a really good workout as well! I feel like I'm dancing when I hula. My mom is a crazy hula girl, so I'm finally trying to follow in her footsteps :)




Well anyway, we have a big day planned for today! My other set of grandparents as well as my aunt and my 3 most wonderful little cousins are coming over tonight for dinner! It's going to be an awesome party! But one of the most exciting things going on today is that my two good friends, Jenny Jenkins and Shana Stine, who are in our small group in Springfield, have been on a massive wonderful road trip and are driving to Napa tonight!!!! So they'll arrive at my parent's house tonight, stay with us, and then do fun Napa things tomorrow!!!! We'll go out for a nice yuppie lunch and go visit some wineries :) haha, I love it. It's always sooooo weird when my CA and IL worlds collide, I love it! Get here safely girls!

-Elyse Aubrie

storms and camping in them

We had a really eventful last couple of days! We had been planning a camping get away trip with a couple of our dear friends (Ben and Becky) and finally accomplished getting out into the wilderness (aka New Salem camping grounds) Tuesday afternoon. Before we headed out to the camp grounds Ryan and I spent our day chasing down our landlady so she would finally meet us at our reeaaaly sad and empty apartment to give us our security deposit. Tear, I'll miss that little apartment, it was our first home together!


We also went one last time to our most favorite little coffee shop in Lincoln to say goodbye to the owners Ed and Ronda <3 And of course get some Chi!














Anyway, we got to the camp grounds and first of all, the bugs were attacking in swarms. So then everyone was miserable and living in a cloud of bug spray. We did manage to still have some fun, relax, read and enjoy the fresh buggy air.



Even the puppy had fun!















We roasted hot dogs over the fire (veggie dogs for me!) and had a beautiful spinach, sweet pepper, strawberry salad. Yum! It was just so good to be able to escape with good friends to do nothing but.... well, nothing!



We all stayed in Ben and Becky's huuuuuge tent that could probably fit like 15 people and stayed up late playing euchre and eating gummy worms :) All was well and peaceful.... that is until the SEVERE thunder storm let loose around 1:00am! Our tent almost caved in, a tree right next to us blew over, lighting was shooting everywhere, rain was soaking our sleeping bags and the peace died. We moved our sleeping bags and tired scared bodies into our cars to try and sleep some the rest of the night. Around 6 am the storm had well passed, Ryan couldn't sleep in the car and made me get up with him to move back into the tent. This was a good idea since we all moved back into the somewhat dry tent and slept until 9am! ahhhh, that was nice. So we got up and decided to leave the EVEN BUGGIER camp grounds and get some food. So we pack everything up, it is starting to rain again, we go to start our car and it's DEAD. crap.



After we got that taken care of, we got some food, went back to Ben and Becky's house, made and ate some delish oatmeal flax seed pancakes with strawberries (sooooo good!), watched old movies, and took lovely naps! So all in all, it turned out to be a very wonderful get away after all! It was an adventure, that's for sure! And now we're just trying to recover from the hundreds of bug bites.

-Elyse Aubrie