schönes neues jahr

london

When a pair of friends from Toulouse invited us to England for a proper British Christmas, we jumped at the opportunity. We are so grateful to have been around friends and family for the holidays.

After a crazy day of travel – Innsbruck to Munich by car, flights from Munich to Frankfurt then Frankfurt to Heathrow, a coach from the airport to Basingstoke, and finally a quick drive to our destination – we arrived to The Old Post Office (our friends’ parent’s home) in the quaint village of Sherborne St. John.

krampus

For those of our American friends who think we've made up the concept of crazy, devilish creatures who terrorize children around the holidays in Austria...

there is a castle on a cloud

With almost a full day off, the Heins Four piled into the car and headed toward Neuschwanstein. It was cloudy and foggy most of the day. In fact, our first attempt at the castle view was laughable. You could hardly see your own hand in front of your face.

wordless wednesday

timbersports world championships 2014

When we were younger and on vacation in Mexico, my sister and I would often stumble across poorly-dubbed Lumberjack competitions on the local version of ESPN (The Ocho, perhaps). We would sit, mesmerized by the burly, plaid clad men, as they dangerously swung their axes and chainsaws at unassuming logs and trees.

wordless wednesday

happy birthday daddy / california dreamin'

End of August 2014:

My dad has had a wide variety of visits to California in his time: Bootcamp at Camp Pendleton, a family vacation to Disneyland with two young daughters, his convertible rode trip across the country, helping me settle in after my move from San Francisco to Orange County, and possibly most importantly, Andy and my wedding. And although I had the pleasure of seeing my dad more times than usual this summer, his trip to California in August was one my heart will cherish forever.

thirsty thursday

A few weeks ago, after seeing the recipe on a fellow volleyball wife's blog, I decided I needed to try this super simple recipe. It tastes like autumn in a glass and makes for a wonderful post-dinner treat. I pretty much followed the recipe in the video with a few small changes, noted below.

san diego classic

September 6, 2014:

Somehow, I managed to convince Jennbugs that as part of her wedding workout preparations, training for a triathlon was a brilliant idea. Between craft nights, seating charts, fitness classes, and more, we found time to buoy swim at A Street, ride the Back Back Loop, and run through Dover Shores…

internationales heimturner meister

This weekend marked Hypo's final pre-season contest as Berlin, Milano, and Lugano traveled to Innsbruck for a tournament on our home turf - or court... whatever. It was great to welcome fellow American friends from Berlin, especially Erik, and enjoy some non-broken-English-conversation throughout the weekend.

Ultimately, Hypo fought their way to number one and took home the tournament trophy. Regular season officially kicks off next Saturday - and so it begins…

a (last) year in review

I've been back in Innsbruck for almost a month already - crazy! - and I realized I never shared last year's "highlights reel" on die Blog. Without further adieu…

bühl + baden-baden

Hypo played a tournament in Bühl this past weekend, which happens to been wonderfully close to the town of Baden-Baden. A fellow teammate's girlfriend and I decided to make the trek. Expecting it to take about 5 hours by car, we planned to leave with MORE than enough time to arrive for the final match...

wordless wednesday

ein prosit

When I studied abroad, my college girlfriends and I all traveled from our respective cities to Munich for Oktoberfest. After that weekend, I swore up and down that while it was an enjoyable experience, it was one I never - EVER - needed to have again. Love will make you do crazy things…

august of love

August 2014:

The month of August was so love-filled I can hardly handle it. We had a blast playing dress up and are honored to have been invited to so many weddings! We celebrated Erin + Paul, Emilie + Stefan, Jenn + Mack, me + Andy, and Jordan + Matt. Sadly, we weren't able to be in San Diego to celebrate Anthony + Casey or in Iowa City to celebrate Tasha + Ben but I'm sure their special days were perfection as well.

flyover states

Fourth of July weekend 2014:

After nearly five years, I was finally able to drag Andy to Iowa for a long weekend to visit my dad and step-mom. Iowa City and the University of Iowa is a super special place in my family. My sister and three step-brothers attended college there, my dad and step mom reconnected there after nearly 30 years apart, we've celebrated birthdays, bridal showers, football wins (and loses), weddings, and much more there. This visit was long overdue.

thirty + six

Early July 2014:

The men in my life have now reached a combined age of 36. I don't know what's crazier - the fact that Andy is 30 or that my little boyfriend, Harry Winston, is 6. Time flies, that's for sure. We were lucky enough to be in the Chicagoland area for Andy's 30th birthday, meaning he got to celebrate (early) with some of his first and oldest friends, and a slew of our favorite family members.

minne

Late June 2014:

I haven't lived in Minnesota for nearly 10 years. Woah. That hurts my heart a bit to say. 10 years is a long time to be away from anywhere but the funny thing is, Minnesota still is and always will be "home." I grew up there, I spent summers in college there, my best friends are there… Minnesota will hold the number one "home" spot in my heart forever. Sorry California.

bwahston

Mid-June 2014:

One of our first to-dos on this summer of travel was to head east for a very special birthday celebration. Our beloved Ellie "Bucket" turned three in June, so naturally her Godparents and all three sets of grandparents had to fly out for the occasion. It's a funny thing having only one grandchild in the family. At any given point, there were upwards of 10 adults following around a teetering little lady. It was actually ridiculous…

happy fall y'all!

It's really pretty here this time of year. The cold weather, however, I could do without. Here's hoping for an Indian Summer!

back at it

We've been having way too much fun lately. And by lately, I mean this summer. Which is over. When did that happen? To those who we have been blessed enough to spend time with in person over the last few months - THANK YOU! To those who miss this little corner of our life updates - we're back, so get excited!

three years

I still love squeezing this man. Actually, I love squeezing him more today than I did yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the day before that. Sigh... love...

"I have found the one whom my soul loves."

Song of Solomon 3:4

triathlon training essentials

Last Saturday officially marked 3 months until the 2014 Nautica Malibu Triathlon. As you may know, earlier this year I successfully recruited a handful of family members to join me for this year's race. Throughout Ellie's birthday weekend and our time in Boston, we spent a good chunk of time discussing tips and tricks for triathlon training.

boston or bust

Another day, another Hein/Dranka/Kleinschrodt/Diers cross-country trip for a very Bucket birthday party. Looking at the above, it's hard to believe homegirl will just be turning three. Time has gone both too fast and just fast enough. She could be the head camp counselor for a group of junior high kids…

wedding season beginnings

Love is most certainly in the air. Between bridal showers, Bachelorette parties (and let's be honest, the upcoming season of The Bachelorette), and many MANY weddings on the books this summer, it's safe to say my wedding fever won't be breaking anytime soon.

In DIY-ing the invitations for my step-sister and her babe's upcoming engagement party, I discovered wax sealing. It was such a simple, classic, and perfect finishing touch, and made dropping these babies in the mail that much more fun.

home sweet home

We're baaaaaaaack!

farewell spazieren gehen

Emilie, Stefan, Schatten, Hairball and I took one final hike up to Arzler Alm today. Harry had his last few sips of Austrian alpine wasser, chased his best buddy, and got sufficiently dirty enough to need (another) bath before the big trip home. Noticeably missing was The Large One, who headed home earlier that day.

so this happened last night...

We will return to America with a Championship medal and a little extra pocket change. Congrats Hypo, it was an awesome finals series and you absolutely deserved to take back the title!

happy friday

wordless wednesday

oh happy (birth)day!

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." - Matthew 28:6 - 

And a very, very happy birthday to Viewpoint Church. We are sad we can't be there to celebrate this enormously important day in person, but trust us when we say we are there in spirit and you are in our hearts and prayers always - today especially!

Roger and Becky, you inspire, motivate, love, and encourage us always. Thank you for being incredible people, role models, leaders, and followers of Jesus. You are fearless!

monday musings

So it's been a minute since I've mused the blogosphere on a Monday. A series of visitors, playoffs, and the like have held me up but prepare yourselves… I'm back.

1. The weather here is confusing. Last week I was bronzing on the sun deck at the gym. Today it's half rain, half sunshine. And rainbows per the above. How wonderful? Oh, and it's supposed to snow tomorrow.

2. Whilst grocery shopping this afternoon, Amy Grant's "Baby, Baby" was playing as I meandered through the aisles. It was probably the best throwback I've had in awhile. Enjoy this…

3. The Hypo guys dropped a devastating match (it was almost 3 hours long and one of the sets went 39-37) on Saturday meaning Aich/Dob tied the series at 1-1. We're back home Wednesday night and hoping for a better result. If there's a sketchy FromSport of FirstRowSports link to share, I'll be sure to do so.

4. The "home countdown" is at 25 days. That's just silly. Considering we have a final visitor, an entire apartment to pack up, and some travel left to do, it just doesn't feel like nearly enough time. I could really use Hermione's "Time-Turner" right now…

5. Our little Bucket's birthday is coming up so soon - how can she be almost three already?! Knowing we wanted to order something for the upcoming celebration, imagine my delight when I saw a coupon code for Naptime Diaries' spring sale. There are so many wonderful prints and gifts to be seen on their site - check it out!

on athletes abroad + running

Our friends over at Athletes Abroad recently published (can you call it that?) a short-and-sweet article (again, can you call it that?) I wrote about my experiences in running overseas. Check it out here.

workout wednesday

This treadmill interval workout has been my jam lately. Thanks to FitSugar for this article on Barry's Bootcamp.

Try it - you'll like it. Be sure to max out when it gives you a range of speed (if you can) and hold onto the sides if you feel like your feet might slip out from under you. I usually tack on another minute at the end to make it a nice, even 35 minutes. I am my father's daughter.