Next year I am going to.....

….well, I do not really do new year’s resolutions because I believe that if you want to change something in your life you might as well do it right away and not pick a certain date for it to happen. Anyway, but you may also say: “Next year I am going to….. New York, because I have not been there ever, to Germany to see my family and friends, continue my healthy lifestyle and saving money for more fun things to come, like the Zumba® Fitness Convention in August, keep up with all my certifications and get NASM certified….”….. The list can really go on and on. But what about this year? What about 2009? What was/were you favorite or bestest things to happen in 2009? For me, there are a couple, really. It started with me getting my visa in my passport in January, then in February Aaron and I flew to Dallas together and I immigrated, nothing really exciting in March, April or May. My sister was here all June, nothing really in July (I started working, urgh, hehe), except the Coldplay concert Aaron and I went to. I went back home to Germany in August for a week and went to yet another Coldplay concert with Jasmin. Aaron proposed to me in September and that is really it for this year. So, in 2010 I want to travel more, like to New York (finally) and go home for a little longer this time, maybe two weeks. Also, Jasmin might end up working in Greece so it would be nice to visit her there, but then again I would not be able to see everyone I want to see, since it would not be Germany. I also want to continue to keep my clients satisfied with me and keep them motivated. I want to keep on setting good examples for my clients and everyone else that needs guidance with a healthy lifestyle. I want to keep on educating myself about anything I need to to be the best personal trainer I can be. I want to take off some “me-time” every day for at least 15 minutes, which would be a time during which I can do whatever I think is good for me, like taking a nap, or daydreaming, working out, just relaxing or anything really. Let’s bring 2010 on!!!

Naughty or Nice??? - It is too late now anyway!!!!

Santa is coming!!! Yeay! Well, we do not have a tree, nor are Aaron’s presents here yet. I am kind of bummed about that, but I refused to step one foot in a mall around this time of the year because that would have driven me nuts. I decided to shop online, but most of the things I wanted for the man were out of stock and now he is going to have to wait. But then again, why wait for a specially marked day on the calendar to give something nice to a loved one? Oh well. I am ready for tomorrow, Thursday, Christmas Eve, 1pmish. I have one client at 10am and then it is my turn to get this ass in shape. Then I am going to go home and cook for us. Favorite!!!!! My mom sent me a recipe. Today I went to the grocery store, and since it was about 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside and CROWDED inside I was sweating my ass off as I got back in my car. Also, I had to take another drug test today and had to pee in a cup for that once again for my other job. Monday I have to get a full physical done, which is going to take about two hours, boooo. Oh well. My highlight of the week was a package from my family which we got on Saturday. Cody got some new clothes and Aaron and I got a small something for Sankt Nikolaus day. The year is coming to an end and I am really ready for it!!!

10 months and still going strong!!!

Today is December, 14th 2009. That means that 10 months ago Aaron and I were almost in Dallas and I immigrated. I cannot believe that it has almost been a whole year. I have not seen my family and friends in Germany for four months. I am kind of sad, but it is also Christmas time, so I guess that is normal. I am just glad that so far (knock on wood) nothing has gone wrong big time. I have my visa, my Texas driver license, a job, a roof over my head, a car, food in the fridge and a great support team here, including Aaron and his entire family! I am glad and made the move! This week has been pretty uneventful just like the last couple ones. We had a Christmas party at my job on Friday, which we did not go to, because we had “other obligations”. I am still not in the Christmas mood to say the least and thought using some Christmas songs in my Zumba® Fitness classes would change that, but so far nothing jingle bell ringing yet, still. I did make five choreographies Wednesday afternoon though. Felt creative ;-). My highlight of last week was that my brother called me on Friday. I have not really talked to him since I left and Nicole neither, since her home phone does not work and my brother is barely at home. But Jasmin was so nice to give them my cell phone number (though they should have had that in their phone….. ) and they called right as I was walking out of the door at work. Perfect timing!!! Right now I am enjoying a yummy caramel latte macchiato which I just bought for our super coffee machine. I love that thing. Makes me really relax on my break from work. Christmas is next week, so that means: long weekend! Can’t wait to relax a little more and get energized for the new year. I decided not to work on my birthday, so we will see if that is going to work out!!!!

Did y'all clean your shoes last night for St. Nikolaus?

I know I did not. In America St. Nikolaus does not stuff anything in your shoes and you find it in the morning… Yesterday I taught my first Zumba® toning class and it was a blast. It went better than I thought. I was nervous and excited at the same time, because it was my first time to teach that format. So, on Thursday Aaron told me he was not gonna be in town for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. He has to go to Milwaukee on the 30^th and then from there to New York City on the 1^st and then come back on the 2^nd. I am sad that we are not going to spend that night together. I cannot do anything about it though. I got me an Advent Calender yesterday at the store. It was on sale for $1, so I got it. That way I keep up some of the German tradition, though it is only a chocolate calendar. Better than nothing. It snowed in Dallas, TX the other day. I missed it though. I heard it snowed pretty bad in the morning for like two hours but it did not stay because the ground is still too warm. It has been pretty cold though the entire week. Jasmin told me the other day she might be able to come see us in April or May, so we will see. I have no clue when I will be able to go to Germany next, just because one week is really stressful, so I would want to go for at least ten days, but then again I do not get paid if I do not work, so we gotta see. Also, I would rather go when Jasmin is there as well. For now, I am getting ready for this year to end and then we will start into a brand-new 2010!!!

Purple Saturday!!!!

…. Pink Sunday, orange Monday, yellow Tuesday, green Wednesday, blue Thursday, BLACK FRIDAY!!! This week was Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I was so full after dindin at Amy’s house, but it was so good. Even one of my clients brought me some turkey to work!!! After Thanksgiving dindin at Amy’s house in Mesquite we went by “Best Buy” and “Toys’r’us” to see how long the line was and there were people wrapped around the whole building. RIDICULOUS! I was really amazed about all the fuss about Black Friday, all of it just to save some money. Some stores here opened at 3am! CRAZY!!! Nobody I asked went though, so who did go??? I mean, these days you can compare everything online and you do not even have to get out of bed to save some money. The new month of December is almost here and I really cannot believe that the year is almost over and I have lived here for almost an entire year already. I got my Texas driver license in the mail yesterday and the picture looks pretty good, better than I thought really. I am not really in a Christmas mood yet, but these last years I never really have. I used to be really excited about that time of the year, but I guess when you grow older and there are not a lot of munchkins around anymore it changes. We will see how things will go this year. It is not gonna be my first Christmas here, since I was here in 2001, 2005 and 2006, I think. Turkey Day was my first, well really second, but I do not really remember a lot about it from 2001, other than cooking a traditional Thanksgiving dindin at school, going to the game and reading “Lord of the Flies” for my English class…..

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la!!!!!

Christmas is in a month!!! Yeay!!!??? I am not sure yet whether to be happy about it or not. I do not know yet how I feel about it. Jasmin moved to Switzerland this past weekend and my brother and Nicole are gonna go to Mexico after Christmas. Aaron said we could go for a couple of days but I am not sure if I can take off work. I would love to go though. I finally managed to get my driver license. Yeay!!! I did not even have to take a test, BUT they took my European license from me. Well, I had to “give it up” in order to receive my American driver license. And all of that for $24, haha. I was really surprised. And it was my first positive experience with the DPS, all the other times before they had been really rude! This week is Thanksgiving week, that means everything else is messed up. My Zumba® Fitness classes have been cancelled, well most of them, because of the holiday and I usually have a lot of clients on Thursday, so I have had to rearrange their sessions a little bit. I am really excited about the Zumba® Convention in August 2010, but Jasmin told me today that she might not be able to go after all. It will be peak season at her job at that time and normally nobody gets to take a vacation at that time. BUMMER. But there is nothing really we can do about it. But here is my dilemma. Should I go anyway? We said we were gonna go together, but if she cannot take off work…. What am I gonna do?? Oh, my business idea at my job got approved that Monday two weeks ago and I started putting out flyers and all that for a six-week-session of Zumba® toning at the gym. Unfortunately a lot of people do not seem interested, which is really upsetting, since it is such a great program. I will teach it anyway. So far I am gonna have six people signed up and a couple of others said they are interested as well, but they have not made it back to the gym yet. Maybe after the first six-week-session word will spread more and the ones that took the class are gonna spread the word how awesome the program is. We will see. Turkey Day on Thursday!!!!

Oh, dear Christmas chocolates.....

Hey there, November! So I heard it is cold in Germany. We had 80 degrees Fahrenheit the other day . I went to Central Market on Wednesday and that place is stocked with Adventskalendern (for $ 11!!!!), Zimtsterne, Lebkuchen,…. Everything a German in Texas would love! And it is all in German, 100%. Nothing on the package is in English, so I am really wondering how they are gonna sell all of that stuff since nobody knows what it really is, except for the picture on the box….. I still watch my German soap on-line every day and it bugs the hell out of me that they put commercials before the real show starts. Every time I see a Giotto or a Kinder Maxi King commercial on there that is exactly what I want. And we don’t have those here. I found Ferrero Rochers, for like triple the price, but nothing else. This German in Texas misses her German Christmas chocolates and sure would not mind if someone sent her some…. But then again those efforts are not appreciated by the American customs, because last time my family sent us a package with food in there (for Easter, with Schmunzelhasen), they (customs) threw it away! Grrrr….. Well, my audition on Thursday went really well. I already got an email from the area group exercise coordinator on Friday morning saying that I mastered the audition and today another area group exercise coordinator from the same gym chain sent me an email asking if I could teach any or all of three classes she offered me. Unfortunately I had to turn down two, because they just do not work out with the other Zumba® Fitness classes I teach during the week. We will see. Still gotta go to the gym and talk to one of the guys and fill out the new hire package. I never got to take my license this past week, but am definitely planning on getting it done this month. It just has not worked out yet. Today, I am really tired, my body is tired and so is my brain. Aaron asked me to run an errand for him, we will see if I can get my butt off the couch for that. Tomorrow, my GM is gonna let me know if my new business idea for the gym is getting approved or not. I really hope so, it would be great! Since we do not have a bath tub anymore I gave Cody a shower yesterday. That was different, but it worked out well. I got a little bit wet, but that’s okay. I did not think I would get out of it completely dry and I planned on taking a shower after her anyway, lol. Other than that, tomorrow starts a brand-new week and I am gonna try to get as much as possible done!!

It is done!!!

Finally. I just got done with Aaron’s side of the closet. The last two things to unpack are two suitcases packed with books and DVDs. So, I am gonna have to wait, because there is nothing I can put it on. Oh, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I dressed up as a Zumba® Fairy at work on Thursday and Cody was a pumpkin. Other than that…. No party, no trick or treating, nothing scary. Aaron is in Austin and my auntie is sick. But that is ok, I am tired anyway. Tonight we are changing clocks, so my American readers, do not forget to turn them back one hour before you go to sleep, so in the morning you will know what time it really is. ;-) I got my new Zumbawear® this week too and it is soooo cute. The little earrings are super-awesome and everything else is, too. Aaron sent Jasmin’s package today, so she’ll have her package on Tuesday, but my mom has to give it to her and she won’t see her till Friday. So Miss Jasmin has to be a little more patient this week. I put a little surprise in there for her too. Wednesday we went to the “So you think you can dance”-tour. We got tickets at the door and they were surprisingly good. I enjoyed it so much and the show made me miss dancing. I am gonna go every time they come to Dallas now, I do not care with whom! Hopefully Jasmin will be here one of those times! That would be awesome!! The last three days we have been moving and I even got up early today to go to bootcamp, finally! I did my laundry and baked some banana bread and Isis and Lee came by. Josh and Rona got their share as well, I hope they liked it ;-). Two more months till the year ends, wow. Next week I plan on finally getting my driver license, it only depends on my schedule, whenever I have enough time. But I need to get it. I have lived here almost nine months now, have been driving since April, but never got my license. It is ok for a year as long as I have my visa and my European license on me, but after one year I have to have it! Jasmin is gonna move to Switzerland in three weeks. Time passed faster than I thought. She is sooooo excited. Hopefully I can visit her at one of the resorts she is gonna work at. That would be cool! And she is all geared up now too. New Zumbawear® on the way and literature for the long drive, too!!! Cody and I are gonna cuddle now and then it is off to bed in a little bit ;-).