#partyseason

Today I want to ponder about a few thoughts with you because I am not doing my calendar but really feel the urge to remind us all to take this Christmas season one day, one minute a time and really take it in. Remember each day why we really celebrate Christmas.
December for me is always party season (hence: #partyseason) and today the marathon of gatherings and parties, and eat-outs is coming to a close.
But this week I thought about why I love it so much. It is not because I love to plan parties or because I love to gather people. No. The months before the end of the year are always pretty full work-wise, life-wise and just in general there is a lot going on.
And then the parties and gathering to me personally are like the complete opposite to work so they form a nice balance to the workload. It is like work and play balance each other out in two pretty extreme ways.

It is always during this season that I see my friends the most and spend the most time with them which makes me so happy.
So this morning as I was looking at our tree and the presents and the parties and gatherings I just thought about my friends and how lucky and thankful I am. And there are already some new ideas and dreams forming for this coming year. Some very exciting things which I can't wait to tell you about.
So having said that I am leaving you with three posts from the calendars of previous years: 1, 2 and 3
Why don't you take today and email, write, text whatever it is your friends and tell them how much they mean to you and how thankful you are for them.


xoxo

Ramona

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The Nature of Rest

Running, working, doing, producing, smiling, more make-up, more deadlines, more planning, less sleep, more coffee. That is how November felt like. Trapped in time, chased by time and with no means to stop it. I stood like a stoic warrior. Enduring, pushing through, not complaining, taking on everything put in my heads, steadfast. Not giving up, not giving in.
Still, in the midst of all of it I was inspired. I had ideas and I stayed creative and found moments of rest.

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers." (1 John 1:2, AMP) This verse has been with me over the last couple of weeks as time seemed short. It was a constant reminder that I need to rest in God, that my soul needs to prosper and rest in Him.

For me preparing a meal and gathering people around a table is breaking out of my time and space framework. It is in those moments that time stands still. It is then where I become creative with many ideas. The steady kneading of a dough of dinner rolls or the circular motion of preparing mashed potatoes which involve a multitude of cheese or the simple beauty of meringue. It is the process of waiting which slows me down. I cannot make it happen faster. Homemade food takes time and patience.
As the different fragrances mingle and fill my apartment I light candles and set the table. I gather my friends around a table and serve them with food. We eat. We drink. We laugh, we dream and and share life. We are thankful and full of hope.
As our bodies are nourished our souls and spirits are nourished. We gather and break bread. We practice community like Jesus did. 

That is how my annual German Thanksgiving was: A moment of real rest and nourishment of friends and food and breaking bread and having real fellowship.

The menu for the night was:

Amuse

Bacon Wrapped Dates with blue cheese
***

To warm up

Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
***

Something light
Green Salad with  apples, walnuts and goat cheese 
Goat cheese biscuits
***

Field - Roast Duck with Apples 
Garden - Purée Aligot

***

Sweet

Chocolate Meringue
"Autumn" 

xoxo

Ramona

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Ringing in 2014

January 2nd in 2014. 2014 this number still seems so unreal. I am turning 30 this year. How did this happen? Just kidding :-)

Well, the new year is here and I am excited for all that is ahead. All the adventures and journeys I'll be on. But for now let me just share some fun photos from an unforgettable New Year's Eve full of food, friends, laughter, worship and dancing. We had a fun photo wall and party hats and well, the results were awesome. So enjoy some photos and let's ring in this year.

 

 

xoxo

Ramona

Dinner, a Bridal Shower and my favorite festival

One of my favorite things about summer is warm summer nights. That moment when everything is cooling down a bit but still warm enough to sit outside. Last Thursday I went out for dinner with my friends to this great restaurant called Mondweide. It's a real inside tip on this region and it's all organic. As we sat there in the shade, talked about our summer, watched the sun set it was total bliss. Total happiness.
I am currently planning the wedding of two of my friends. Only 3 more weeks to go!! On Friday we celebrated Claudia's bridal shower and the maid of honor and her bridesmaids did such a beautiful job in planning it all. What a special shower it was, full of emotions and honesty and encouragement. That was followed by my favorite summer festival, the "Kieswerk Open Air", which is an outdoor movie festival. It combines some of my favorite things: music, food, art and a movie! My sister, brother in law and me went to see Les Misérable. I sang along while I watched the stars appear on the night sky and followed shooting stars.
What a night! What a summer!

xoxo

Ramona

Surprise!

Last Saturday my friends through me a little birthday suprise party! I was completely amazed, felt loved, honored, blessed.
And they didn't just do a little, no they went full out and I must say they know me pretty well and did a beautiful job with decorations and atmosphere in general. They also seem to know the things which are my favorite: friends, food, fire and a film. The 4 F so to speak! Ha!

Everything was so beautiful and I had such a wonderful time with everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!!!

I have the best friends!

xoxo

Ramona

A German Thanksgiving in the Woods

In Germany we do not celebrate such a thing as Thanksgiving. At least nothing comparable to an American or Canadian Thanksgiving. What we do have though is Erntedank. It is always on a Sunday in the Fall and it's where the farmers say thanks and all the churches are decorated with grapes, pumpkins, bread etc.
For 3 years now I have done a somewhat German Thanksgiving where I invite my closest friends for a dinner. And whenever I cook for my friends or invite them I go all out. I want to bless them and give them the best time ever.
This year I figured the group of people might be too big for my rather small living room which is why I came up with another plan and rented a little hut up in the woods nearby. There is no electricity, no light, no water up there. Just a fireplace, an oven, some chairs and a table and it is beautiful and amazing and quiet and perfect for the occasion.

 

I tried to be really simplistic and natural with the decoration. In fact all I bought and brought in were creme-white candles in different sizes. I collected some branches from outside and wrote words like adventure, friendship, vision, dreams, etc. on them so everybody had a different word on their plate. With chalk Melina wrote the menu on the stone wall behind the oven. Everything looked so cozy and warm.

 We enjoyed a beautiful dinner with an apple-walnut Salad, Chicken on the grill, bread, butter, grapes and sage carrots. Every year for dessert I make some apple squares and we cooked Espresso over the fire.
There is little things more beautiful than sitting around a table with your best friends enjoying dinner. It is these moments which feel like vacation. Time disappears, your soul refreshes and life is full of joy. It is these moments where I well up with tears and thank God for amazing friends, for giving me this life and these talents and this season.

And as we sat around that table we talked about our lives and the things we are thankful for. I am extremely thankful to share my life with such amazing friends who I can call family. Friends who I know I can count on. Friends who are always there for me. The last year and a little more have not been easy when it comes to my friendships and things change, seasons change, lives change. And yet, to have it all back. To sit there, to share life with them, to just take it all in filled me with such gladness and joy that I was lost for words. I just soaked it all in. That very moment of friendship. That moment of knowing that our lives will always be intertwined, that our lives will always be shared no matter where we go or if we stay. These are my closest and best friends. And that is reason enough to be thankful.

xoxo

Ramona

Cease the Day

Yesterday I spent the day with two of my amazing artist friends. I had stayed over night so there was lots of talking, eating and dreaming. Yesterday we all just slept in and had a big breakfast with pancakes, bacon and eggs and strawberries. More talking. More dreaming. More looking into the future as we all embark on new adventures and get ready for new seasons in our lives.
After breakfast we went to Alyssa's art studio to paint a little. Well, they painted and I read a book to them. It was one of those perfect days where you loose track of time and place. You just live, enjoy the moment. It is exactly what happens with great friends. You just do life together. You challenge and encourage each other. You dream together and you don't necessarily need to do that much but rather just be.
I will miss them dearly as the three of us will be seperated after this summer.
Here's to a day ceased. A day of freedom. A day of community. A day of dreams.

xoxo

Ramona

Progress and Change and things which stay the same

I have talked a lot about change over the last months and there is still a lot of change happening. In myself, with others and I am only now starting to fully come to terms with all the change happening. Sometimes you don't even have to understand or be able to answer all the questions but rather be thankful for the things which are still in place, be graceful with yourself and keep going in life with the dreams and plans God has put on your life.

And yet there are some things that will never change. Like friends gathering around a table. Friends who are so different from each other as can be and yet share a life, share memories. Friends who have learned to accept their differences and have learned to love the otherness of each other. I believe there is something profound and beautiful when gathering around a table to eat. It is more than community, more than food. I cannot pinpoint it but it's there and I always want to be able to share the table with my best friends.

Last weekend we not only celebrated my friend's wedding but we also got together to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had breakfast and laughed and dreamed about the future. We went for a walk in our beautiful region and bought fresh strawberries from street sellers.
Those are the things that will not change: The friendships, the memories, the connection and the growing together.

xoxo

Ramona


 

Spring... at last

It was a very long Winter. One that was preceded by a very colorful Fall full of changes which left me with barren trees and new chapters to be written. New beginnings to be made.
But it was a process of finding out what stories I wanted to write, what new dreams I wanted to dream. And at the end of this Winter I felt stuck as though I could not enter into the full bloom of Spring.
Then on one eventful weekend I felt the shift. Something was lifted and Spring began. In my heart. In my soul. It was that moment where I new that everything was going to be ok. New life would spring forth, new dreams would be awakened and even though I didn't see it yet I knew it was there.
Therefore I finally feel able and ready to fill you in on what Spring has been so far. It has been very eventful already filled with friends, family and food and laughter and making some beautiful memories:

Those first warming rays of sun right after Winter. The time when you get rid of warm coats and hats and you go for the first Spring walks. The air is fresh and filled with scents of blooming flowers. It awakens the sould and refreshes the spirit. I love how God created nature in that way.

The Alps were still covered with snow as we went for a boat ride in Switzerland. We let the sun warm our faces and listened to the water as the boat floated through it. One of those days that feel like being on holidays. As though our world, this daily routine feels miles and centuries away.

On the Easter weekend I invited all my friends for an outdoor Spring brunch. It was still very cold outside. We made a fire and made scrambled eggs, bacon and sausages. We ate in the forest and celebrated Spring. We listened to the birds and balanced on cut down trees. We drank hot coffee and laughed and ate.

Spring has finally arrived. I anticipate all the new things it will bring. It is a new season and new beginnings are ahead of me.

xoxo

Ramona