Sticking My Head In...

My new little birdie necklace, for peace of mind.

It does feel like I've fallen off the face of the world. But I am coming back up again... slowly but surely...

This is my job in a year's cycle -

September - December: slow, relaxing, some planning and the most exciting thing is the accounting business in the end of the month

January - April: things are gearing up, I conduct staff applications three times a week, figure out new ways of posting the job, we have the feeling that something is falling into place, we get the first registrations for the festival in July

Mai - June: we do overtime, we are slightly stressed and accounting is something that is annoying and I curse a lot when it comes to the end of the month

July: we are overstressed, don't have time to eat or sleep and work an average of 16-18 hours a day to make sure that all 4.500 athletes from 22 different countries are having the time of their lifes. I lose it once, big time, but get over it quickly. The show must go on.

Now: I sleep for two days and am back to work in late night shifts, back to normal operations and I am looking forward to the beginning of August, which brings the end of season party and a wedding (not mine).

I also shopped a lot, including my new pretty necklace. There's nothing better than double your salary and sale in June/July.

Oh, boy

So, it's been over two weeks since I last posted and there isn't really an excuse for not posting.

There's work and all, our computers had to be redone (I don't know the right word for taking it all down, cleaning up the viruses and then starting all over again - and quite frankly, I don't want to know it.) and we still don't have all programs set up. Including photoshop which sucks. :(

Anyway, I am disappointed with summer this year. It's really cold and the rain is falling constantly. I think I've only worn open-toed shoes about four times. But, on the other hand, there is indeed a lot of work right now, so I am very motivated to go in and get stuff done. I will go today (my day off) to get some of the piles off my desk. I might even be lucky and be able to answer some of the 93 emails that wait for me at work.

In two and a half weeks our sports festival will take place, and we are expecting about 3000 kids from all over the Europe and the US. It's crazy right now with everybody running around like chickens with their heads cut off (my dad likes to say that). David is starting his tour as a guide on Friday in Zurich and will hopefully bring me some goodies from England. I ordered some trashy magazines and novels through him, I just hope he doesn't forget. By the way: he cut his hair and shaved his beard and we forgot to bring our camera that day!!! Now I can't prove it online.

Martin is doing fine at work, still busy but I have a feeling he is getting into a routine so that's good. We are both have VERY itchy feet but there's no way to travel anywhere right now. My dad gave me a priorities lecture which made a lot of sense, now I just have to work on keeping my emotions under control. Sometimes it feels like I have a bad boy sitting on my left shoulder, who is saying, "book a flight to the states! go take a break in Thailand! visit your friend Barbara in Rwanda! Jamaica is nice, too!" and then there's the good guy sitting on the right shoulder "get your second degree done! save the money to invest! you don't know what's ahead of you!" Sigh. Watching Australia last weekend didn't help either.

At least I almost met this guy, and I got really close but he was in a hurry...

Desmond Tutu in Vienna.
(Yes all you see of me is my backside.) I wanted to invite him to come and have spaghetti at our house, but he was just too fast!! He missed out. We even had Strawberry Shortcake.

Graduation

Here, without further ado - pictures of Martin's graduation:

The boys.

Alexander praying?

Funny bubbly

Check him out!

Awww...

YESSSS!

Martin and his Prof

Carried by his parents

Martin and his colleague Markus

Carry me home

We'll hold him up. :)

Martin was the last one to receive his diploma, as his last name starts with a Z. But his "fans" were by far the loudest. We cheered so much that the room shook. :) Everybody else just got a lame clap. The ceremony was very nice and I had tears in my eyes (more than once), glad that I could hold the camera infront of my face all the time.

Getting Updated

Haha... I really am behind on the updates to my blog, huh? It's been ages since my last (slightly depressed) post and there's stuff that's been going on

We're still waiting for that summer heat but I've detected some signs already: Martin's first sunburn, the smell of sun lotion, lots of sun glasses and flip flops all over. Two weeks ago we were on a two-day vacation to the mountains (Hohe Tauern, the highest area of Austria) and we had a very relaxing weekend. We ate a lot, drank a lot, hiked and got into a storm that drenched us to our undies. But our hotel had a spa area with pool and we got to warm up there. The best part (besides the hike, which was really nice and the scenery is gorgeous) was the six-course candlelight dinner. It was so delicious and the service was perfect.

This picture was taken not even five minutes before the rain/hail storm.

The waterfall, running right through the village of Bad Gastein.

Hello, little rodent friend!
(I'm a bit afraid of squirrels because they remind me a bushy-tailed rats. That's why I am certainly NOT in that picture).

Right after the first rain of the day - everything is glittering.

What the area is famous for: healthy water from dozens of hot-water springs.

Martin is working way too much at the moment (late evenings, sundays, holidays...) but we are hoping that it'll slow down soon as his boss promised to hire some more staff. He really likes his job though and was lucky to get such a good position straight out of university. By the way, on Thursday was his graduation ceremony, but I'll post that in a few days.

My life is a bit complicated right now - not so much for the workload (althought that is also steadily increasing, next weekend I'll be on the first early moring shift) but as I am at a crossroads and have no clue where to turn and what to do. We had planned to go on a trip around the world, but since Martin got this great chance the trip is out and I need to re-plan my near future. We'll see what happens, I'll be just taking one step at a time, I guess. We are thinking about maybe doing a bit of family visiting very soon, but that plan is not fully developed yet.

This might help?

He's enjoying this.

I'm in a mood right now. MOODS. Like hormones have taken over my central nerve system and I alternately a) almost cry on the bus when a certain song is played on my mp3 player, b) snap at my colleagues which I have NEVER done before in the three years I've been at the company (it was such a surprise that for a few seconds everything went quiet), c) mumble and grumble to myself like a looney while I'm looking for a dress for Martin's graduation and d) am appalled at the lines on my forehead when I see my reflection in a shop window.

So, I saw this on Cheryl's blog and I thought it might help getting me back on the right track. She told us to write down

~ 5 things you want to do before you die
~ 5 things you love right now
~ 5 things you're looking forward to

Before I die I want to:
* see, smell, touch New York City
* own an apartment or house
* have a big dog which I'll call "W" after the last US president (same amount of brain)
* do something that makes a difference
* go to Disney World

Right now I love:
* the smell of the elderberry flowers
* beer
* Kings of Leon
* my new pair of tight jeans
* pilates

I'm looking forward to:
* dinner tonight with lots of friends
* a birthday party right after that
* the weekend with 90210
* next weekend when Martin and I are going to the National Park to hike and be in love
* summer heat

Bikes, Drinks and Good Food

It was LOUD, man.

I started with this post on Sunday and then had to put it aside for something else. Now it's Wednesday and I honestly don't really know where the time went, although I heard a rumor that it involved shopping, espresso sipping, working, cooking, baking, working out, writing some serious stuff, reading, music listening, grocery shopping, vacuuming and cleaning. And again, maybe not.

It was really worth looking forward to last weekend. Although I had to work late on Friday night (9pm), I still got to go out that night and then had a fabulous weekend. On Saturday we woke up early and I made Martin breakfast in bed. Which, to be honest, has not happened ever before and he was a bit suspicious at first. But I was just hungry myself and didn't want to wake him up... Then we headed into town for the long awaited Harley Davidson parade on Ringstraße. I got to high-five a couple of bikers which was so much fun, I jumped around like a little kid. We met up with Sara afterward and had our first glass of wine in the sun.

Heat & white wine & no food for hours = tipsy Katrin. At least bedazzled enough to sing along to some pretty embarrassing songs and a near-collision with our vice-chancellor.

Anyway, then we strolled through town and I had a little argument with Martin, because I just can't help being myself sometimes. And that sometimes means being a stuck-up, un-spontaneous and stingy bitch. At least I tuned these fits down to five minutes so we got through it quickly (although Sarah might've been traumatized) and continued to the Genuss-Festival (Festival of Delicacies?).

Can you find Martin and Sarah?

We were there last year and it consists of lots of white tents at the Stadtpark where you can taste some pretty delicious foods and drinks. Especially the strawberry bowle and the apricot spritzer were heavenly! The day ended with a last drink in the green grass and then picking up my poor brother at Burger King, since it was his turn to work late on Saturday and that's all he got for dinner. Poor guy, he missed out on a great day, great booze and great food.

Sunday was easy, lovey couple time. Tried to work on my tan again, but I still look like I'm made out of wonton dough. It'll come, I'm sure.

Martin and Sarah in the grass, chillin' with a couple of plastic cows in the background for the city kids.

I shouldn't Have

Dad, Mom and I at the Country & Western stage last Friday- after a couple of drinks and before the rain.

I shouldn't have taken the whole weekend off, without wasting one second on my thesis.

I shouldn't have worn my cute new shoes with a toe that's still not 100% healed.

I shouldn't have had so much ice cream already.

I shouldn't have stared into the air for a few minutes at work.

I shouldn't have knocked at the door of the new parents next door because their kid was yelling like a maniac one evening.

I shouldn't have had a beer and a huge chunk of white bread when Martin's brother was visiting.

I shouldn't have spent so much money on entertainment, drinks and food.

I shouldn't have been so egoistic to let everybody wait for me just so I can buy a very cute t-shirt for only € 3,90.

I shouldn't have lied to the post office guy when he asked me if there was anything ot eat in the package full of chocolates I sent out on Monday.

I shouldn't have fallen asleep on the grass and drooled all over my arm.

I shouldn't have snapped and said no when the shop assistant asked me to go to another changing room, when it was my turn next and I had already been waiting for fifteen minutes.

I shouldn't have eaten so much chocolate today when I had fat-free yogurt waiting for me in the fridge.

I shouldn't waste time, energy and high-quality air-staring-time on thoughts about what I shouldn't have done when it was So. Much. Fun! :)