feel better 2012

There has kind of been a lull in posting recently, because well, not much has been going on of late.  Germany's been a bit dreary (think lots of grey and lots of damp-ness. And no, not in the form of snow.)  Christmas was a low-key event, where I mozy-ed downstairs at 10am, made my coffee, sat on the couch, opened  my one gift (this fantastic book), sat on the couch to read said gift, and then went and got ready for dinner at a friend's house that night.  New Year's was almost an exact carbon copy - where last year hubs and I traipsed around The Roosevelt Hotel and then watched the fireworks from Jackson Square, this year I took my life in my hands and drove to Würzburg for dinner and watching the fireworks from the bridge.  No, I didn't get any pictures, because:

• my old-school iPhone 3G is in no way up for the challenge of trying to take pictures of fireworks,
• I lost the battery charger to my real camera and have been too lazy to shell out $50 (!) for a new one.  
• the smoke and haze for the self fired-fireworks makes it nearly impossible to see anything.  Germans are given 24 hours to set off fireworks legally and wow they go crazy.   

My friend Charlie took the lone picture from the night:

2012 from the bridge in Wurzburg.  Thanks Charlie

So after ringing in the new year, I made the trek to Frankfurt to collect my dad for his visit to Germany. But of course, the gross and cold weather really hindered our plans to do much sightseeing.  So essentially, for my dad, Germany consisted of lots of Pilsner, a migraine, 30 degree temps with just rain, an afternoon of snow that didn't stick and lots of rumpsteak, potatoes and schnitzel.  Now, he's back in the US and I'm fighting a terrible cold with strong hot toddies, episodes of Portlandia (how have I never seen that show before!?) and hot soup.  Thank heavens me and the Bear are off to the US at the end of this month, so we need to hang in there until then.  Just like my cold, I hope 2012 gets better soon.