undefeated and unknowns

Hypo Tirol Volleyball swept their finals series against AICH/DOB and ended the (league) season undefeated at 26-0. While being undefeated is not a super duper major accomplishment in most of the regular season, not dropping a match and only dropping a single set in four matches to a worthy opponent most definitely is.

monday musings

It's been awhile since I've graced this little corner of the inter webs with my inner most musings. So much has happened in the last few weeks and even more will happen in the coming ones. I'm hoping "get warm and stay sunny" is Mother Nature's to-do list as we head into our last month in Innsbruck. Within hours of the above photo being taken, we were hit with dark skies and snow flakes. I can't keep up with this valley weather...

volleyball lately

Until very recently - as in, the last 5 days recently - Hypo volleyball hasn't been the most thrilling. The team easily swept the Quarterfinals in 3 of 5 matches, and had another long break until the start of the Semis.

vineman monte rio

So, I might be crazy... Our month of May is absolutely bananas already. We fly back to San Francisco on May 6th, head up to Healdsburg May 7th - 10th. Fly to Minnesota on May 12th. Fly out for our honeymoon on May 16th. Fly from our honeymoon to Chicago on May 24th. Fly back to the Bay Area on May 27th. And finally, considering I just submitted my registration (there's no going back now)... Head up to wine country again on May 30th for the VineMan Monte Rio Triathlon.

the jump

There is currently a British reality TV show being filmed here in Tirol - The Jump. The show features celebrities of all sorts - from Pussycat Doll to Olympic Athlete, and everything in between - and pits them against each other in alpine sports including skeleton, bobsled, snow crash, and more.

birthday trip - czech!

My mommy came over to visit for a few days short of two weeks. After an evening arrival into Munich and a quick snooze at a nearby hotel, we hopped in the car and headed for Prague.

on top of the world

Kiley and Cody visited us - twice - as part of their Tour de Europe. After 4 straight days of snow, the skies cleared, the sun shone, and we trekked up Nordkette to Hafelekar. It literally could not have been a more picture perfect day.

ice princess-ing

In their trip planning, Kiley and Cody created a Winter Wonderland Bucket List full of fun and festive to-dos while in the snowy and much more wintery land of Europe. Much to Cody's dismay, Kiley and I spied an ice skating rink in the center of town and beelined for the rental office.

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…