Weekend in Pictures

Before I get to the pictures, just a quick heads up: I will have two wonderful guest posts to share with you this week from some fellow bloggers, as well as a give away!  The give away starts tomorrow, so make sure you check back so you can enter to win...

Watching the sunset from my balcony has become a nightly ritual.

Little wooden cups. 

What the what?!  Found an amazing thrift store in Kaiserslautern!!! 

This room captured my heart.  Records, needlepoints, books.  What more could a girl ask for?!

I'll share my purchases from the thrift store later this week, after I go back to finish looking through everything!

Accent Vlog

First saw this over on Talia Christine's blog, and decided to do one of my own!

Words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pyjamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, Envelope.


Questions:


What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?


What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls up into a ball?


What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?


What do you call gym shoes?


What do you say to address a group of people?


What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval shaped boy and extremely long legs?


What do you call your grandparents?


What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?


What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?


What is the thing you change the TV channel with?


What do you call the insect that comes out at dusk in the summer, and its end lights up?

What I Collect

I have so many projects I would love to start and share, but this weather is not cooperating with me!  Rain makes it super difficult to paint outside, and I'm not particularly fond of doing so in the house [unless I'm painting the house itself of course].  So, until the weather clears up this weekend, I thought I would share a few of my favorite collections that are scattered around the house.

If you remember this post, then you'll know I love owls.  Here are a few more I've picked up over the past few weeks: #1 is the hideous seashell owl that I absolutely adore.  You have to love what you find in thrift stores!!!  The other two are from my recent trip to Garmisch...the miniature wooden owl, and the larger stone owl.

The complete owl collection.  Yes, the one in the front is scarred.  The dogs decided he was delicious.

I definitely love candle holders; the more the better.  These need to be painted, and once they're bright blue, they'll look much better on my stairs.  Old cameras are some of my favorite treasures to search for, but for some reason I haven't come across many in Germany.  [if you see any, please let me know and remain on stand by until I race my butt to you.]  And although the last picture [bottom right] doesn't show my complete collection, I love coffee cups.  Not old or vintage or anything.  Just ugly ones you find at the ridiculous & tacky souvenir shops.  They make me strangely happy.

Last but definitely not least...containers.  I love anything that can hold, well, anything.   Baskets, suitcases, jars, crates, totes, trunks, trays, canisters.  I want them all, and I want them everywhere.  This is not a complete showcase of my collection.  I didn't want you to know how strange and obsessive my addiction is.

I also collect picture frames.  Nothing in them.  They just hang on my walls, waiting for find something useful to put inside them.  Unfortunately, these empty picture frames happen to be hanging in the worse spots, so no decent pictures could be taken [and this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm incredibly short.  Definitely not.]  Do you collect anything awesome/cool/strange/alarmingly weird?  I'd love to hear.

*Just a quick note: I'm hosting an amazing giveaway on Tuesday that will feature my absolute favorite local photographer.  You'll definitely want to enter this one!  She's offering up some gorgeous treats.  So make sure you check back Tuesday!*

Trying to break through

The weather here in Germany has been a tad depressing lately.  Take the fact that we had a morning of snow on Monday...I'm used to a possibility of snow in April for Minnesota, but here?  After almost a month of wonderful sunshine?  Seems as though winter drear is here to stay forever.  But, every once in a great while there is a break in the clouds and the sun pours in.  The pups and I run out the door in these moments to take full advantage of the rare rays of light.  And while the gloomy weather takes up a good portion of our days here, there are still signs that spring is trying to break through to join us.

This pretty lady was waiting for me when I walked outside this morning.

The majority of my routine path is still a drab brown, but this little section brightened up my walk considerably.

My favorite bench.  Not a huge change from fall, but quite a big difference from winter.

I managed to get Sass to sit still for two seconds for a quick picture.

And of course Ninja puts on a huge smile.  Proof he's the best dog in the world.

So there's a little taste of an early German spring in my life.  How is the weather treating you in your part of the world?

Swap Buddies

I saw this amazing idea over on An Unstyled Life, and think it's an awesome!  So, a new addition to the blog is born: Swap Buddies.

The theory behind Swap Buddies is to promote and sponsor other blogs, but for free.  This option will also include an introduction and overview of your blog, and the chance to have a guest post or giveaway on mine!  You can renew your ad space monthly at no charge.  Fantastic idea, right?  All that I ask is that you grab a button of my own to put on your blog.

Interested?  See the Swap Buddies tab at the top to see how to participate.  And don't forget to link up!

<a border="0" href="http://befreckled.blogspot.de/p/swap-buddies.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j458/englander2010/linkupswap.jpg"/></a>

My Wardrobe

This is not a fashion blog.  I don't do fashion; I stick with solid colors, maybe some polka dots, and sometimes [when I'm feeling adventurous] I break out plaid.  But you will never catch me wearing a pattern like floral, or animals, and definitely no graphics.  I just don't like them.

BUT.  But.  I have one shirt in my closet that I love, and I though I should document my venture into a fashion area that I rarely visit.  So here is one of my few "outfit" posts.

 jacket: gifted

shirt: hand-me-down

jeans: hand-me-down

shoes: yard sale

dogs: expensive accessories

Yes, I'm laughing at the fact that the dogs followed me around, and plopped themselves on the rug when they thought I would be staying still for a bit.  Now, I'm sure someone with more fashion-ista could pizzaz up this outfit with something awesome.  But the shirt is already pushing it for me...

Yup!  Giraffes!  This is my big break thru.  I love this print, love this shirt, and love how it fits on me.  Loose, comfortable.  Thank you, dear sister, for letting me steal it.

Well, that's about it for this girl.  Don't expect any more of those anytime soon...I don't have any other cool clothes to break out.  But here are a couple more pics from the fashion photo shoot.

Sass, confused as to what I'm doing. 

Hello, pups!

Ultimate Blog Party 2012

Proof that I've been in hiding; didn't even know about this awesome party until this morning!!!

Click the link above to join the festivities.  There's a little something for everyone!  I personally joined the Daily Life and Opinion Blogs [since that's what mine is kind of about...life], Twitter links, and Pinterest links.  There's also Facebook, specialty, baby...you name it, they got it.  Go on, link up! You know you want to!

If you've found me via this amazing site, here's a quick intro for myself and my blog.

This is me.  My name is English.  I have a lot of freckles...hence the name of the blog.

This is my husband.  His name is Tim.  He's currently deployed with the Air Force.

And these are my pups, Sass and Ninja.  They're adorable.

I am a stay at home wife to my military husband.  We are currently located in Germany.  I love my life!

I'm also a full time online student at Washington Sate University.  Needless to say, college keeps my days pretty full with assignments and homework.  Not that much fun.

This blog is simply a lifestyle blog; I love taking pictures, and tote my camera around with me religiously.  All those pictures end up on here...so most of my posts are simply photographs.  Add in some recipes, some book reviews, and a couple melodramatic moments, and that's me in a nutshell.

A few of my favorite posts include: this photo shoot, this post on all things miniature, and my trip to Venice, Italy.  

Welcome, and hope you enjoy.  Please leave your blog link in a comment if you visited so I can return the favor!

~English~

Here

More rain rolling in.

As I'm sitting here on the computer [supposed to be doing homework], the rain is falling on my windows, Ninja is curled up under my legs, and Sass keeps pawing at me to get my attention.  *I get it, Sass.  You want to go outside.  It's raining.*  I haven't spoken out loud yet today, just like I didn't yesterday.  My house is completely silent.  Except for Sass' whining, anyway.

I've been in a funk this week, and I'm not sure how to get myself out of it.  The rain coupled with incessant homework assignments are all adding to my growing apathetic feelings.  I don't want to go outside.  I don't want to think about school.  I really don't want to see anyone.  I'm so lonely, it's making me miserable.  Not the kind of lonely that is fixed when you eat lunch with friends; the kind of lonely that exists when your husband is gone for six months and there is nothing but you and your dogs to make the house feel alive.  The kind of lonely that exists when you realize you haven't spoken out loud in two days because there is no one to talk to.  This rain isn't helping at all.

This is just a phase.  I, like so many other women who deal with husbands being gone, will get over this and keep looking forward to the day when he gets home.  And dealing with being on my own day by day is usually not this difficult; but every once in a while, you get a piece of news, or have to deal with an event, and just wish you had your other half here to help you through it.  Just wanted to give a quick update; I haven't disappeared.  I'm here, just sitting and thinking and wishing and hating homework.

Garmisch, Germany

My photos of our Girls' Weekend to Garmisch are a little late in coming, but homework got the best of me. Here's a sampling of our fantastic three day trip away!

Tara and Sandra

All four of us.  Forgot to change the settings on the camera...but this dinner was amazing. 

Cindy and I

I named him Mr. Margarita.  We're best friends.

An afternoon spent shopping in this gorgeous place.  Who could say no to that view?!

Great trip with great friends.

Vacation #3

I find it hard to believe that we've already been in Germany for almost 6 months.  Where has the time gone?!  The past month alone, time seems to have just flown by; between my mom visiting, photo shoot opportunities, and college classes, the time since Timmy left has been packed full and completely occupied.  I'm overly happy about it.  The more I spend my days doing 'stuff' and not sitting around and thinking keeps me from sinking into that self-pity mode that comes along with deployments.

To help me along with all of this are the fantastic friends I've made since we've arrived.  They invite me out shopping, over for dinner, over to drink, out to movies, out/over to do everything.  I love not being home by myself 24/7.  This house is way too big and empty with just me and the dogs.

So these fantastic friends and my habit of maintaining a whirlwind lifestyle are taking me on Vacation #3: a trip to Garmisch, Germany.  Timmy and I were recently there for Valentin's Day, but this is an all girls no kids no husbands relaxing spa-ing drinking kind of trip.  We leave tomorrow morning to spend a couple nights, just the four of us.  I am so excited, I think I'm going to scream!!

I'm planning on taking lots of pictures.  And planning on making the most of this time; this will be my last big outing before I go home in the summer.  Thank you, dear friends, for helping me not be so lonely; I'm off to go pack for the adventure, and I'm sure I will come back with some awesome stories and pictures to blog about.  Hope you all have as great a week as I'm planning on having!!!

Madison Jade Kelly

If you haven't noticed, I love to take pictures.  I love my camera, love my lenses, love figuring out how to capture what I'm seeing.  My favorite is daily life or stationary objects; I don't feel like I'm talented enough to try and take photos for other people.  On top of that, I don't think it's my place to do so when there are so many fantastic legitimate photographers out there.  Sometimes, though, it's nice to do it for others.  The Kelly family recently asked me to photograph their little 5 year old girl.  I was so so so nervous, but it's a great opportunity and experience; I learned so much in the two hours I was with them!  I'm still disappointed with how the majority of the photos turned out, but I think one or two of them are fantastic.

I'm so grateful that they allowed me to do this.  It's definitely put my minor abilities to the test, and has given me a more specific idea on what I need instruction on [i.e., editing].  Looking back over the past year, I feel as though my abilities have improved so much!  Can't wait to see how much I continue to grow in this next year!