one small step for man...

I am most excited to announce that we now have a real place, and a real date (September 2nd , at the Sternbach Winery for those of you taking notes). There are no ostriches or goats, but there is one rooster, who I think will do the job just fine. The rest is beyond lovely, or so they tell me. My beloved groom and family went to check it out today as I paced my room in Leipzig. A wonderful exercise I can only recommend for anyone with control-freakish tendencies. Now that that is taken care of, I'm thinking that all the rest will easily fall into place... HA! Just a few loose ends as they say.

moving mountains, ya'll

I know I'm in hot water for being Awol for the past week, but I've been off moving many mountains. Literally and figuratively. On Tuesday, H. came from Hamburg and we made it in the nick of time to our meeting with the lovely Frau D. at the Leipzig municipality, where handed in all of our carefully curated documents.* We will know in 1-3 months if we are authorized to TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. From there I stopped at home to throw random things into a suitcase, and we caught a train to Berlin, arriving at H's old apartment just in time to meet all the people who came to buy the furniture that can't be stored/isn't worth schlepping to Hamburg. It looked like an ikea slaughterhouse in there. Expedit shelf parts were flying, wardrobes were being torn apart-not a pretty sight. The next day we packed up all the rest, and all of the other awesomeness that is moving. For extra credit I got to travel through the subway with a blue bucket filled with paint,varnish and other toxins you are forbidden to throw away making my way to some god forsaken lot at the end of the world where men in orange overalls happily took it from me.
Now I'm back in the 'zig, catching my breath, practicing for auditions and packing up my apartment. Oh, and planning the wedding-which at this point consists of staring at my to-do lists, and questioning all the decisions we've made up until now. good stuff !


* from this point on I won't** complain about this anymore, because although I find the whole system slightly clumsy and tedious, I am also very grateful for the possibility to do this here, something not available to me my own little country.
** won't, meaning of course : will do my very best

The happiest of birthdays to my beautiful mother !

pretty glad these two found each other...

Happy Anniversary guys !!!

moving right along

I am no stranger to moving, but this time around the logistics are slowly beginning to resemble the plans of a world war two era dictator on a mission to take over eastern Europe. The master plan involves shifting H's possessions from one basement to another in Berlin, me moving things into yet another basement in Leipzig, and sending a box to Hamburg with warm things to wear when we get there in the Fall (thinking ahead=100 bonus points!).We don't have anywhere to live yet, but I hear extra sweaters come in handy when you're homeless. Of course no move is complete without one or two attempts to get rid of your stuff through a few shady deals on Craig's list, which is always a pleasure. Especially when you get a text message in the middle of the night that reads : I CANNOT COME TO GET THE TOASTER BECAUSE OF THE SICKNESS.
huh?

To add to the madness, I'm leaving tomorrow for Paretz for a few days for some chamber music...on the program, among other things is Schubert's wonderful "Death and the Maiden" quartet arranged for string ensemble,which you can listen to a bit of here and here, played by the Alban Berg quartet.

Artwork is Aerofauna by Valero Doval

to the Lake of Constance and back

And we're back. We even snuck in quick run around a medieval castle (the oldest in Germany) in between rehearsals and the concert. Lest anyone think that the whole wedding planning thing has slipped my mind, rest assured, it most definitely has not. I am realizing that these things don't slip your mind even when you really want them to. In fact ,the whole time everyone else was admiring the lake and the view, I kept thinking and mumbling to myself..hmm this would be a nice place for a Chuppah...no here .....this would be perfect...a little muddy for 4 inch heels but .... and then I realize that as wonderful as destination weddings seem, our loving group of family and friends might not be so forgiving if we tried to drag everyone to the Lake of Constance.
there is a lovely breeze though, just saying...

The weather was rainy and gray most of the time, but when we came out of the concert the sun was shining most brilliantly, and I was happily reminded that skies are often bluest after a storm.

next up : the joys of moving

southern bound , part II

So once again back through the fields of yellow and down to Bodensee for more rehearsals and a concert. This time I'm armed with Everything is Illuminated -Jonathan Safran Foer, a classic Agatha Christy murder mystery (what better excuse than a long train ride to read such things) and new podcasts from This American Life. Which is so fantastically addictive I'm almost happy about the 8 hour train ride. Until Monday ...

photo by Chris Shipman via Strikes Our Fancy

history repeats itself

Although I usually try to avoid plastering photos of myself all over the internet, this seems like a necessary exception. I found this photo- in which I am most definitely rocking the Masai look -in my mailbox shortly after my parents read the tribal bride post a few days ago. Seems like I haven't changed that much and I'm not quite sure if that's a good thing or a not so very good thing.

Good news, (and all other sorts of news for that matter) often tend to migrate in pairs. I'm very excited to say that the groom can officially come to the wedding. It was touch and go for a while but the lovely people at the opera finally decided it would be ok. Such a thing is not to be taken for granted, and is pretty nice as it was rather high up on my list of priorities for the wedding. We've also scored an official appointment - no small feat - in order to apply for a civil marriage license. We get to hand in all the documents we've carefully curated, translated and stamped, and those will be sent off to Dresden where some diligent bureaucrat will sit in his basement office poring over them day and night until he decides whether we are worthy. Or not. The only snag in this plan seems to be that my wonderful groom can't really make it. BUT, there is still hope, because apparently he can sign a release form saying he really does want to get married and is fully aware that I'm signing him up. Which kind of makes you wonder what happened to make them realize that they needed to invent a form like that....no?



Apologies-not quite sure where this photo came from, but it was way to fabulous to leave behind

So now that the groom is set to go, I'm looking for some simple accessories to spruce up the maybe-dress. Something understated and elegant, like these lovely beaded Masai pieces. I do feel a slight sense of injustice - all over the world brides get to wear colorful and insanely beautiful textiles and decorations, but ever since Queen Victoria did her thing in 1840, most of the western world has been dragged into a downward spiral of white fluff.

In other news, I survived 16 hours in the train over the weekend. The trip actually turned out to be quite therapeutic, with nothing else to do I passed the time reading books, staring out the window and speeding through fields and fields of the most incredibly vibrant yellow flowers . The south is truly different, almost another country. In Meersburg, hills covered with grapevines roll right down to the Lake of Constance, and sailboats float across the horizon. The first impression is that everything is a little lighter, a little more jolly. They have what we call Lebensfreude. Someone whispered to me, conspiratorially: "yes, those protestants up north can be a little uptight."
oh?tell me about it....


*photo from Rumia and Yoel who have beautiful things that make me want to go tribal. Thanks Dvorah!

Blitzkrieg

In retrospect, this week was a huge success. Major highlights include an almost-job, a blitzkrieg style visit to Berlin and not one but TWO maybe-ensembles for the groom. (one of them shown in the photo above - minus the Von Trapp suspenders , and the heavy make up this young man seems to be sporting. I have the feeling H. might not go for that ) Menswear looks deceivingly simple to the untrained eye. Nonetheless, we fearlessly went at this one with a vengeance. Now, to the end of the earth and back for a rehearsal at the Lake of Constance...

Ibn Gabirol makes me weak in the knees.

Organized Chaos

This is exactly what life feels like at the moment. Organized chaos. Note the insane yet gleeful look on Dali's face. (Did you know that the photographer and assistants threw those wet cats around 28 times?) Not much new in these parts, just a few non-wedding related ulcer inducing deadlines, that is all. I mumble to myself ; breathe in, breathe out. Right foot in front of left.... I have only the most random of thoughts to share today.

Signs I might be getting older :
Walking to school this morning to practice, I saw Arthur - a nice albeit slightly rumpled looking young man from my studio. GOOD MORNING, I say a little too cheerfully.... Arthur mumbles and squints into the sunlight, obviously still hungover from last night. I , failing to recognize the Walk of Shame, ask him where he's off too. He then gives me a dirty look usually reserved for older people-who-don't-get-it , not in quite touch with reality. "home" he grunts. Oops. Then I walk on to school, which is of course closed because it's the 1st of May.

The shoes I ordered online finally came, but definitely raised a few eyebrows among the ladies of this house. I fear this might be a sign that I have lost all good taste / judgment and will most likely remain this way until after the wedding. This is strike number two for the internet, who already sent me one ugly dress. Lessons learned : sheer will power cannot make you fit into shoes that are too small (could have learned this already from Cinderella's sisters) and there is such a thing as heels that are too high. General rule of thumb - no matter how pretty the shoes are, if they make you limp around your room like a baby giraffe, they are too high. Much sadness.

* more about the Dali Atomicus photo here


As per the Royal Wedding, I only have one thing to say : Horses? Really? I mean come on Willandkate , with all your assets and resources, that was the best you could do? Don't you read wedding blogs? Personally I would have gone with a zebra or two. The best thing about the wedding (aside from the lovely getting married bit which did seem a little gloomy-but that's just me) was that grumpy flower girl. Mazal Tov !