Saturday, December 25, 2010

Observations from Germany: The Flat

Cindy, Spencer, Owen, and I have just moved to Stuttgart Germany for my job with GM. Cindy and I will be posting as often as possible to document our daily life here in Germany with an emphasis on the unique differences between Germany and the US. I find these differences very interesting as it gives me an some insight into why and how our cultures are different.

We arrived last Friday, December 17th, (the 107th anniversary of controlled powered flight, thank you Orville and Wilbur Wright) and came to Stuttgart to pick up keys to our flat. It is in Sonnenberg a suburb just south of Stuttgart. It is about 1150 sq ft. with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. It is in a building with about 6 other flats. About 4 floors, and a "tief garage" a garage in the basement. See pictures below.  It is currently a little septic without any personal nick nacks and such but our shipment of stuff will not arrive until next week.
Front door and entry hallway.On the right are two bedrooms, one for Spencer and Owen and a spare bedroom(please come and visit). Straight ahead is our bedroom and on the left is the full bath.

The full bath is very large it has a tub and a shower.It also has a bidet. The boys were unsure about this to begin with, but I think we may have to install one when we get back to the States.

This is a shot from the spare bedroom down the hall to the living room.The door up on the right is the kitchen.
Kitchen:.It is very nice. It is brand new as the landlord just installed it before we moved in. It has granite counterer tops, tile floor, and a dishwasher.
Picture of living room and terrace.
Looking back across the living room from the terrace to the kitchen.

This is the view from our terrace. It is very pretty. As you can see it is very hilly here and makes for a good view.

Another picture off the terrace

Some interesting observation about the flat. If you notice in a lot of the picture we have just a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. When you rent a flat in Germany you have to provide all your own lighting and usually the kitchen (we were lucky as the landlord provided the kitchen). So, when you leave, you take everything with you incuding the lighting. So, all of the ceiling fixtures have been removed and we are left with "interogation bulbs" in each room. Its as if the police could come in at any minute to question a suspect in any of our rooms. On the good side it seems that no one in the family can tell a lie when these lights are on.

Another thing that is really interesting are the blinds and curtain tracks on the windows. The blinds are on the outside of the window, but controlled from the inside. They are very nice I wish I had them on my house in the US. Also, the there is a cutrain track on the ceiling for each of the windows. This is something that must be unique to German/EU. See below.
Fully closed. The tan strap to the left of the window is how the blinds are controlled.
If you look close you can see that the blinds are slightly seperated, but sill cover the window (ie lets a little light in)

Partially opened.

Curtain tracks in ceiling.

We will write a little more later.


Sunday, December 12, 2010

A great weekend!!

A busy weekend for us.  Spencer had a few friends over for a sleepover.  That was alot of fun.  We need to that more often.  I can't believe my kids are getting old enought to play Mafia.  Have you ever played before?  Dave and I used to play that with the youth group.  Love it!!

 Here the kids are blowing up balloons and letting them go.  Thanks Grandpa for a great birthday gift.
 Making  a gingerbread house.  More like decorating only.  I pulled it out of the box already put together.
 It started out kind of slow.  The kids were tired from the night before sleep over.  And it is about 9:30pm.
 I wish this photo was in focus.  The camera kept wanting to focus on Dave's arm....aaaaaahhh!!

    Owen is super focused here.  I really like this photo of him.
Super cutey patutey!!
 I think he fell asleep....
 The finished house....yeah!!!
Outside today.  Earlier today.  Now there is more snow plus ice plus 14 degree weather = snow day tomorrow.

The movers come tomorrow!!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

cindygert is moving to Germany.

A new adventure awaits us in Germany.  We are moving to Stuttgart in December for a little over a year.  I hope to continue my operation over there but it is looking like it might be difficult for me because we are not taking much over with us.  I will definately resume when I return and hopefully I will have wonderful ideas to incorporate into the new bags of 2012.

This blog will most likely evolve to include alot more of my adventures over in Germany than bag making.

Please stay tuned,

Cindy

Sunday, October 17, 2010

October Arts Market at SoBo

These are all the cuties that found new homes this weekend from the Arts Market!! It was a great fun and I hope to do it again in the future.  I will post tomorrow about the available bags on this site.  The ones at SoBo Style are listed here

Hedy Regal has a wonderful blog where she posted about the Arts Market.  She is so talented.  Please head over to her blog for a full recap of the day and all the other featured artists.


Gray with Squirrel $125

Black with Red Flower $125


Gray Stripes $95

Red with Cream Swirl and Bling Buttons $125

Black Speckle with Red Swirlie Flowers $95
Green Birdies on a Limb  $135
Tan with Black Dots $125
Pink with Cream Flowers  $125
Birdies on a Limb  $85
And a Gift for Katie...thanks for a wonderful show!!
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Tuesday, October 05, 2010

October Arts Market at SoBo Style in Columbus, Ohio

 


I am so excited to participate in SoBo Style's 3rd Arts Market on October 16th, 2010, 10 AM - 6PM.

There should be plenty of cindygert handbags to look over and also many other one of a kind finds at Katie's store.
I hope to see you on Saturday October 16th.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

More new bags on their way to SoBo Style today.

I have to say these 3 new bags are cream puffs. I love them.


Especially this Coral with Cream Flower $125

And this Green with Pink Flower is so stinkin' cute!!! $125

I absolutely love the interior.


Rust with Paisley and Button Flowers. $125
The belt on this one is super yummy!!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

New Bags to Post

Here is a new line up of bags that will be going to SoBo Style for the Country Living Fair weekend. I will be sending a total of 10 bags for the show.
Gray with Red Flowers $85
Brown with Red Flowers $125

Hot Pink with Cashmere Flowers $125


Gray with Red Flower $85


Multi Black with Stripe Owlie $115

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Breakfast at Tiffany's Before and After

I should probably wait until I have the room done......but if I did that it may be Christmas before I share. I have been lurking on sites such as Knack, Life in the Fun Lane and Thrifty Decor Chick to name a few. Please look at my blog list....there are so many talented women out there. They have so inspired me to get my house in order. I want to live in pretty and for a reasonable price.
Take this dresser. Kind of boring. Had it for 9 years as this brown blob. It has good bones, it is a Hill-Rom. So it probably was in a hospital at one point. I have two of them exactly the same. So when I decided to redecorate the spare bedroom I thought aqua because supposedly it is the color of the year. I went to Home Depot and got some spray primer, aqua spray paint, and white lacquer spray paint and got busy!!
Here is the before.

Sorry about the photos. There must have been something on the lens.

And ta da.......After!!!!
I am going to have to accent in 'diamonds' some where in the room. I just found a cool chandelier for 10 bucks that I am going to give the white lacquer treatment to....maybe diamonds will hang from there or a cool mirror...oh the possibilities.

I am not sure if I should rough up the paint a little or antique it. What do you think? As the Thrifty Decor Chick would say.....I Lurve it!! Can't wait to garage saleing (sp?) this summer.... my kids want in on the action too!! That way I can paint outside, before I bring it in.

hum... from this angle it looks like I may need to spray it some more in the front. In real life it does not look like this.


What have I been doing for a whole month of no posts?

Where do I begin? I have been dealing with one cold or ache after another. January is typically not my favorite month of the year. I think I suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder). My son just got over having pneumonia. Here are few new bags that I have worked on. Most of what I am doing right now is IOU's and special orders.

This lavender bag was for Renee from her husband. What a sweet husband!!! Happy Birthday Renee!!


Lavender with Flower $120 Sold!!!
This bag is for my friend Vickie. She said she loves humming birds. So this is what I came up with. The inspiration for this bird came from here. I love how this turned out. Please feel free to give me new suggestions for pretties on my (your) bags.


This bag is a monstrostity. It is my overnight bag. I LOVE it!! I have been wanting to make myself one of these since I started making bags. I was starting to feel like the cobbler's kid with no shoes.

It is sooooooo me!!!

This bag is for Sonya. She sent me this sweater and belt and this is what it turned into.
Isn't she loverly?? I love the buttons!!!

This picture does not do it justice. There is a little bit of bling in the center of this button.