Spring is on its way...

Hi everyone!  I was quite excited by my findings today, and I wanted to share them with you... 

Yep, that's right... I walked out of our apartment today, and this is what I found near our sidewalk...  The flowers are starting to blossom.  And we all know what that indicates... Spring is officially on its way... YAY! :)  It's amazing how the smallest hint of spring can literally put a spring in your step and a smile on your face. :)  So, needless to say, I took advantage of the nice day and I got quite a few things accomplished... woohoo!

I also visited my friend, Val, in the hospital today.  I actually learned a little something today during my visit.  The hospital has a parking lot specifically designed for visitors.  When you park there, you're required to go to the nearest ticket machine to purchase a ticket, which you then take back to your car to place in your windshield.  Well, when I visited her the first time, I wasn't quite sure about this procedure, so I just copied what all the other people were doing.  When I used the ticket machine the first time I was quite confused because all of the directions are in German... So, I did the best I could.  I tried to make sense of everything, but all I could figure out was that it would cost me 50 cents for every 15 minutes (or so I thought), or 2 Euros for 2 hours (or so I thought)...  I ended up just putting in the 2 Euros just to be done with it... :) Come to find out, when I went back to the ticket machine today, I wound up finding out that 50 cents is good for 2 hours, and 2 Euros is good for a whole day pass... Lovely!   Gotta love that language barrier! :)

The visit with Val went very well.  She had great news to share.  Her doctors informed her that her surgery went well and the cancer is gone... yay!  That was so good to hear... Now, let's just hope that she makes a full recovery and that she'll be able to go home soon. 

I've been managing to keep rather busy lately... So that's been a good thing! :)   I had coffee out in Markdorf  (the town outside of Friedrichshafen) with a friend yesterday... She has a new puppy, so I enjoyed spending some time playing with an animal... However, it did make me realize how much I miss having Riley around. :(  We went rock climbing with Maike last night... Very fun!  I am now in need of new rock climbing shoes though.  I was halfway up the wall last night when my toe broke through my shoe... That was exciting! :)  

Well, I'm off to bed... I just got back from a pretty intensive workout at the gym, and I'm feeling pretty tired... After my almost 3 month hiatus from the gym, I've been trying to ramp my workouts up a notch nowadays to make up for lost time! :)   I hope you're having a great Wednesday!  Miss you much!