cliches and funny movies

First ever Thanksgiving and it was fabulous.
Started out really early to walk the Boulevard Bolt - a 5 mile run/walk to benefit the homeless people in Nashville. Although it was freezing and I looked like a clown - turned out to be okay as people were dressed up as turkeys, Santas, Indians, etc - it was the best start of the day. It's nice to see people taking time out of their holiday and give back to their community.
What followed was the above mentioned cliches - a house full of people, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, football, games, an overload of food and funny Christmas movies (Elf anybody!).

Things I am thankful for this year...

an awesome God who took me on a whole new adventure

a family, who still love and believe in me

amazing friends

the Lago di Garda crew for being who you are

different airlines taking me places

Willi Dungl tea

being part of a great church

my MacBook

sleeping in a bed for most of the year

Zeke for making me laugh every time I see him

Zoe and Malin for giving me a chance to work with them

food

Florence and the machine, Kings of Leon, MuteMath, Mark Ronson, As Tall As Lions

Jetty for making me climb up that mountain

fresh air

My Glorious for memorable moments on the road

The I Heart Revolution

Wimbledon Common

...

Life is full of things that don't necessarily have to be there but they are. I always wonder why I get to be part of this unfolding journey, that is so rich in everything.

I've stopped asking why and started saying thank you.

countdowns and chats

Time has been flying past so quickly it is ridiculous. Yaya's days in the US are numbered :)
It feels like such a long time ago that I came over here and met the amazing family P who have showered me with love and hospitality. Wish I could give back so much and just pray that they will be blessed abundantly for taking me in. (considering that I was supposed to stay here for a weekend and 2 months later I'm still with them!!! they're legends!)
So after church (including a rendition of Alleluia Alleluia Alleluuuuuu-ia which still makes me think of a certain Mr Bean episode) and a quick lunch, we headed to downtown Nashville once again to walk around like tourists. It was a quick visit as the rain kept coming down. Slowly it feels like I know my way around the city. Like and hate that part... After two years in Sydney I finally felt like I know how to get to places, short cuts, etc and than I had to leave. What's the point?!

Life is great everyone and I could burst with thankfulness and gratitude. Just got to chat to these two

An hour an a half later their battery died and we finally hung up haha. Talking to your besties is like a shot of energy. Heard funny stories from the EheG and we're all going a bit nuts over celebrating New Years Eve together. Crazy things happen when we all get together, you wait and see world!!!

A few pictures from the last couple days...

Vanderbilt - Lipscomb game

the hot light at Krispy Kreme was on

so to annoy my brother a photo of what he can't have :)

dad this is for you

he's everywhere

streets of Nashville

Fort Nashborough replica next to the river, where people first settled

bike rides in downtown

Last night we went cycling.
There were eight of us and we all dressed up as if we were horse back riding in the English countryside (or whatever we could find and people thought was English haha).
It was so much fun and I finally got to see a bit more of Nashville.
Thanks to biking everywhere when I was in Austria in June, I didn't feel like dying once!! Progress!!!
It was funny as people kept staring at this group riding their bikes, apparently it  doesn't happen very often around here... one guy was yelling "get a car" at us - yeah things are different in America.
I wish I would have taken more photos on my digital camera instead of my old old SLR one, but we'll see how those will turn out. As the film roll expired a while ago, it could be interesting.

The boys are arriving in a couple hours and I can't wait to see them. It will be great to have family around for a bit!! More on that later, I'm about to start a new book - which marks number 17 on my list, 10 more to go until the end of the year. Oh dear.

work parties

Today was a fun day. It started out with a lot of inventory on the farm - yay!! But than we worked out that I'll be doing sample dresses for the next couple weeks, which will be amazing, as I'll be getting to hone my skills on the sowing front.

Tonight , the prophetik gang, went to the six fifteen magazine launch today as we will be featured in next months edition. Kinda lush as we got picked up by a limo and driven to this great house where the party was at. 

Nice setting and yummy food and open bar, but I reckon not enough people for that massive house. As downstairs was boring we went exploring the house and found this dance floor room and for most of the night the seven of us dominated that room :) For all the times that my friends tried to get me out dancing in London, I was making up for all that tonight!!

At some point Anne turned to me, saying "this is so weird, this is a work party!!!!". We almost lost our designer up there, when it filled up haha. Despite that we made it to Rumours, a wine bar, and had a little white wine session with the team, which was lovely and good to see everyone in a none working environment and plans were made for next week. 

Octoberfest in German Town is on the list for tomorrow. Don't think they have caught on that I'm not German, but whatever. 

A much needed skype session with everyone is scheduled in though, before things will get crazy in Nashville tomorrow afternoon... Can't wait to catch up with you all.

And before I forget, Sophal this is going out to you!!! Love you lots and can't wait to talk to you soon x

music city and its perks

There will be a fashion show on the 23rd October and things are going a bit crazy right now. Nothing out of the ordinary but when Anne suggested we leave work early and go to Live on the Green tonight, I thought that that was the best idea ever.
One of the radio stations has been hosting free concerts on the green every Thursday for the last six weeks and we went to the last one of the series. After some frozen yoghurt (or in my case dairy free sorbet yay) we headed into Nashville and got to hear the last bit of Ricky Young. Headliner and main reason for us to go was Citizen Cope

He was amazing and the atmosphere was great. Haven't smelt that much pot since I don't know... maybe Bondi haha. It was good to be outside and enjoy life!!
Good night world, I'm off to bed now.