Stranger in a Strange Land: Flower Power...

Every now and then I'll find something that I just can't get enough of. Let me give you a few examples of what I'm talking about... As a teacher, I love purchasing children's books for my classroom. If a book fair comes to the school, I'm one of the first people down there checking out the books. And, no matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to limit my purchase to just one book. Hence the reason for the 6 huge tubs of children's books that Brian and I have stored in our basement and garage... Yikes! :) Another example would be my obsession with Beaner's coffee. I simply have to have it in the mornings. In my mind, it's the only way I can fully function with my students before noon. :) As hard as I've tried to simply drive past the coffee shop on my way to work in the morning, my car seems to have a mind of its own, and it takes me directly to the nearest Beaner's, where I always order the infamous "Tall, skim, Butter Bear"... YUM!! (And, yes, the baristas know my order by heart, and have it waiting for me once they see me enter the store... How sad is that?! :)) And, my most recent obsession was... scrapbook paper. Yes, that's right, I admit that I have an addiction to scrapbooking paper! :) Once I walk into a store that has scrapbook paper, it's like I'm drawn to it... I pick up piece after piece of paper and admire the colors and shapes... And for some reason, I just can't seem to put them down. Therefore, I typically walk out of a scrapbooking store with more paper to add to my already large paper collection. (But, at least I'm not the only one with this addiction... My sister has it too. Only hers includes stickers as well! :))

Luckily for me (and for Brian!), Germany does not have any scrapbooking stores or Beaner's coffee shops. They do have children's book stores, but considering the books are all in German, there's no point in buying them for my future classroom. :) Therefore, I haven't found many things here that have held my interest for long... That is, until spring arrived in all of its glory. My newest obsession... FLOWERS!!

Yes folks, you read that correctly. My newest obsession is flowers... I can't seem to get enough of them! Now, in case you haven't noticed in many of the pictures I've posted on the blog, this country loves their flowers. You can find flowers virtually everywhere around here! Every house has a lovely garden, most balconies have flower boxes that are overflowing with colorful blooms, and flower shops are on every corner. They are all over the place! And, Brian and I have both noticed just how nice it is to have all of these flowers around... It's such a cheerful feeling to see all of the colorful arrangements around here. When you see someone's garden, you can't help but to smile.

This leads me back to the point of my blog... I wanted our balcony to have that cheery feeling whenever you walked out onto it, so I went out and bought a rose bush. I placed that in the middle of our table, and it looked so pretty sitting out there. I think that is the moment that led to my downward spiral... In that instant, I realized that I wanted more flowers on our balcony... I wanted our balcony to be our little haven full of colorful blooms! :)

Now here's where it gets interesting... I went out the next day, and I found some flower boxes to place on our balcony. I then searched for some flowers that I knew that I could keep alive (most of you already realize that I definitely do not have a "green thumb"... This is what makes this current obsession so amusing to me! :)). I decided on geraniums... So, I went through and searched the most colorful ones I could find. And I got so caught up in them, that I purchased 4 different colors of geraniums for my flower boxes. I hurried home and planted them and placed them out on the balcony. They looked so pretty and they really brightened up the balcony. I was quite happy with myself... at least for the next few days. :)

A few days later, I went out to water my flowers, and as I looked around, I realized that I didn't like the color scheme I had chosen. My mind went into overdrive, and soon thereafter, I found myself driving back to OBI to find more of the geraniums in the color I liked. I found those rather easily.... along with some additional flowers that I felt we just "had to have" on our balcony... So, I bought those as well! I also purchased the additional pots to plant those flowers in. :)

I replanted the flowers in my flower boxes, and I have to say that I'm rather pleased with how they turned out. :) I then began to plant the other flowers, but in the process, I ran out of potting soil. Meaning.... another trip to OBI the next day. And, I'm sure most of you have noticed a trend by now, I was unable to walk into OBI and simply purchase potting soil.... Oh no, I got sucked into the new flower displays they had added since the day before, and I ended up purchasing even more flowers (as well as pots to plant them in)! Crazy!

I have to say, our balcony is quite colorful at the moment, and I'm pretty satisfied for the time being. But, over the past couple of days, I've started to feel the itch for hanging planters... However, I'm making myself refrain from purchasing them, until after we return from our vacation. Who knows, maybe I'll find some plants/flowers to bring home from Italy and Croatia?! :) I'm posting a few pictures so that you can see my most recent obsession. I hope they put a smile on your face... They certainly have for me! :)

Well, I've got to get busy packing. We're heading to Karlsruhe for the weekend with our friends Eva and Dominik. (It's a three day weekend here. May Day is tomorrow and apparently it's a very big holiday around here. Being that it's considered the first day of spring, all businesses are shut down, and all of the people spend the day outside... Interesting...) We're going to be doing some sightseeing in Heidelberg, touring through an old castle, doing some outdoor rock climbing (yay!), and heading to a Wine Festival (apparently, this is a very old festival... It's similar to Oktoberfest, but instead of beer they drink wine... ). Should be fun! :) I look forward to sharing the pictures with you when we get back! :) I hope you all have a great weekend! Miss you much!

And there I am... Hard at work on my newest obsession! :)

The flower boxes... Notice the color scheme? The brighter pink ones are on the ends, and the pale pink flowers are in the middle... This look only took how many additional trips to OBI?! :)