Checking In...

While I won't be posting any photos this time (I know sad face) I did want to update those of you who read here from time to time with recent happenings so too much time does not go by...

Best thing ever is that Jarrod and I will be going to Cancun in March for my spring break to finally celebrate our honeymoon!  Thanks so much to Mom and Dad Manzer for helping make it happen for us.  We're going to be spending 4 nights and 5 days at this hotel which is right on the beach.  It's also a little ways from down town Cancun which is good since it is Spring Break... and we're not really into that scene anymore.  haha  This trip couldn't have come a better time! We both are feeling pale and tired and a wee bit stressed from work.  Well I am stressed from work and that stresses Jarrod out haha.  Facebook friends-I apologize for the constent countdown, but I reall NEED this vacation!!!

On not such a good note, my debit card number (for Jarrod and I's joint account) was hacked and spent in Spain of all places.  A total $1400 was spent and the worse part about it was I have no idea how it happen.  I do everything I can to ensure I use secure websites when buying online and I have only ever used it as a credit card in local stores.  I feel violated, frustrated and a itty bitty bit assured.  That last one might seem weird, but the good that came out of this was that I realized how nice it is to be an adult and not have something like this destroy my world like it would have if I was still in college.  Luckily we caught it in time and our bank is amazing and they are refunding all of the money.  A lesson learned and a relief it's over!

In doggy news Portland has gained about 12 lbs since we adopted him and is ready to eat adult food!  Haha I know soooo exciting :) He's healthy and has a filled out barrel chest that I am sure is only going to fill out more in the next year or two.  The best part of him going to the vet is he gets his nails clipped! No more clicking as he walks down the hall!

I think that's all the news that is fit to print at this point. We are quickly approaching birthday season on my side of the family, starting with Jarrod's on the 29th of Jan.  Here's to birthday cakes, presents and yummy dinners!!!

German Town USA

The first weekend of my winter break Jarrod and I reserved a hotel room (That allowed dogs) and made our way to Fredericksberg Tx.  It's slightly south west of Austin and is the quintessential German town with many German restaurants, a brewery, and a lot of wine!  We had heard this was a fun place to wine taste and was also very festive at the holidays so we went west in search of something more festive than a palm tree covered half way up the trunk in lights...

The drive there was pretty good.  It was getting colder by the minute and was finally starting to feel like winter...On December 18th mind you.  The ride took about 3 hours and here you can see that Portland was the least amused with our driving time:

 I will say for 3 hours though he did pretty well.  He certainly was happier to see the Motel 8 we stayed at than we were and OH was he happy to see they had a King size bed he could run around on.  

The first night there we had a very German dinner with giant beers and meals who spellings I would butcher if I tried.  It was all super buttery and delicious and sent us to bed with full bellies and happy dreams of vineyards in the am.  Allow me to show you our full day in Fredericksberg via the pictures I did manage to grab:

This statue was outside of the Famous Hondo pub.  This place is all about local music and really, really good burgers!

German Town USA...

This is the German town that Fredericksberg is a "Sister" to.

 Happy visitor :)

O Tannanbaum 

 

The cat that ran the vineyards at Terre di Pietra

Imagine many...many grapes...mmmm

Tasting of the wines

We love wine tastings!

The rest of the day was filled with shopping, more wine tastings within walking distance (much appreciated) and a tasty dinner at the Brewery.  Forgot to pull my camera out the rest of the day, but here's a run down of what we brought home.  You can piece the day together from that :)

That's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! bottles of wine folks! 

Signed by the wine maker himself!

This winery made custom labels... Thought this was a good photo choice :)

This was from a store called Red... AWESOME! We thought it was good for the bathroom ;)

Custom made for us with our wedding colors

Limited edition we found out... the box maker has stopped making these wine boxes

That we did... that we did!

This is made out of a stone... you put a candle in it and it glows. It was amazing all the things they had made out of this stuff.

Should be yellow, but all we had was the green tealights from the wedding... you get the idea though :)