favorite shop friday: sarah jane

How much do I love today's shop?



Yep, this much!

At Sarah Jane you will find the sweetest children's illustrations you'll ever hope to see!

You can decorate your home, your children's room and your lives with her wonderful illustrations in the form of prints...



...party invitations...



...cards...



...and notepads...



Sarah Jane is a mother of two and the inspiration her children give her is shown in the child-like movements of her illustrated children...



...in the sweet nursery rhymes she illustrates...



...and in the adorable animals who show each other as much love as I'm sure Sarah Jane's children show her!



You can find her illustrations at http://sarahjanestudios.etsy.com. You can also become inspired by her life and work at her blog: http://www.sarahjaneblog.com.

my life's journey

I have had a wonderful year this past year. But now it's time to move on to the next thing...namely, a job.

When we first moved here nearly a year and a half ago, we came for a temporary assignment for my husband's job. But I did not have permission to work, so I'd been living a bit of a leisurely life (and yes, it's been nice!). But now that we've decided to make our move here permanent, it's time for me to find a job!

So I've slowly been working on my resume, both updating it and translating it. I admit, I'm being pretty slow about it, so my husband gave me a deadline to have a draft completed by the end of today. So guess what I've been working on most of the day?



I'm learning that a German resume has a lot of differences from an American resume. First of all, I have to have a photo of myself. Great. I have to give a lot more personal information like my marital status and where I was born. I also have to attach a copy of my degree. Except that I'm pretty sure my degree is in storage in America so I'm not sure how I'm going to get around that one yet.

I also learned that a resume in German is called a Lebenslauf, which literally means, "life's walk" or "life's journey." I kind of like that name. Here, on these two little sheets of paper, is the path of my life.

I guess it's time to stop blogging about my life's journey and start finishing it up...

signs 3

This sign shows you where you can park your car when you want to go on a hike through the Black Forest:



This sign also shows you where you can park your car if you want to strut through the Black Forest like a fashion model.

favorite shop friday: ugly kitty

Renee has one ugly kitty...



I mean really ugly...



Isn't she the cutest thing?



Her name is Quasi and she's owned by Renee who named her shop after her: Ugly Kitty.

You can find all kinds of wonderful things at Ugly Kitty like giant pincushions and little pillows...





...dorky magnets and and cool pins...





But my personal favorite are Renee's address boxes made with recycled paper...





Renee also does amazing stationary including custom wedding invitations...



And last, but certainly not least, at Renee's shop you can also give to the Ugly Kitty Fund which goes to the Cool Cat's Rescue Center, a no-kill adoption center where she adopted Quasi. So even if you're not in the mood to buy today, at least go give...because how can you say "no" to this face?



I know I can't so I'm off to make my donation and drool some more over those address boxes. Find Ugly Kitty and Quasi at http://uglykitty.etsy.com.

this photo is for me because i deserve it...

So...remember how I was bragging that time about how we're getting an early spring in Germany while the US is buried under lots of snow?

I think I jinxed our spring...



It's snowing right now. Big white flakes of snow. That's accumulating more by the minute. I guess that's what I get for my bragging...sorry.

diamonds and bars

On Thursday I spent the day in Karlsruhe to visit a contemporary arts museum for a wonderful exhibit of Amish Quilts.

Diamonds and Bars: The Art of the Amish was wonderful! Most of the quilts were made between about 1880 and 1940 and were from a collector, Maria Schlumberger, and most came from Pennsylvania and Ohio. And most were made of the recognizable simple piecing patterns, solid deep-colored dyes and intricate hand-quilting.

I had never seen such a collection of Amish Quilts in person. I was impressed both by how simple many of the patterns were pieced and yet how amazingly intricate the quilting patterns were...these quilts were deceptively complex. My own quilting seemed so little by comparison...what masterpieces! It made me wish we were moving back to Ohio after all!

Since I can't take you to the exhibit myself (which I would really like to do) then look through this online exhibit of Amish quilts...enjoy!

"--it keeps us warm, it soothes our pain and relieves our burdens, it commemorates important occasions, it preserves family history, it demonstrates skill, it encourages social interaction, and it supports intimate communication." --Robert L. Freeman, A Communion of the Spirts -- African-American Quilters, Preservers and their Stories

shop update

I got my shop updated today with several new items...go take a look!