Me

*note* this post is written while I sit poolside in a wonderful 5* Resort and Spa on Crete in Greece. We are enjoying our kids-free vacation and so far it has been great. great weather, food, drinks, pool, beach, lots of sunand relaxing :)

Ok, so I promised I would introduce myself. I will tell you a little about me even though I guess most of the people who will read this blog (at least for now) already know me, either only a little or maybe for a longer time already. But I guess if I keep up writing maybe after a while some "strangers" will get around to reading this and they might want to know who I am.

My name is Irene, I turned 30 a few years ago. I have a wonderful husband and two kids, who are mostly cute and wonderful but can turn into annoying little monsters once in a while. The older one is a girl and is 4 1/2 right now, the younger one is a boy who just turned 2. We live in Germany, right now our home is close to Nürnberg (Nuremberg) which is in the south, not to far away from Munich.  We are both not originally from this part of the country, hubby was born in the former eastern part, close to Magdeburg and I am originally from Bremen, which is in the north, not to far away from the coast and close to Hamburg. We moved down south because of hubbys job and even though it was a bit of a change and took some time getting used to we now like living there. Unfortunately it is pretty far away from both grandparents but we do like to travel so driving up to see them is not really a big deal.

I lived in my hometown, together with my parents and two younger siblings until I was 19, only interrupted by a 3-months stay in Vancouver, Canada (I took part in a school exchange in 10th grade). After graduating High School I decided I didn't want to go to university right away, I wanted to travel and get out of my hometown for a while. So I worked as an Au Pair in the USA. I spent a year living close to Washington, DC and took care of three children. I learned a lot about myself back then, I met one of my best friends, I went to a lot of clubs and parties and I really enjoyed being away from home. I fell in love with the country and the language (which is one of the reasons this blog will be mostly in english - I might write it bilingual because my family doesn't speak good english, but when I decided to start blogging I immediately started writing in english) and I have tried hard ever since (more than 10 years now) to find a way to go back and live/work in the US.

After coming back I started university and decided to study Business Economics. I went to University in my hometown but didn't live with my parents (after being away for so long I needed my own space). About a year after starting university I met my future husband but it took another year before we started dating (long story - I'll save it for another post). He lived in Hannover, which is about an hour drive from my hometown. So we started a long-distance relationship, I would hop on the train as soon as my classes were over (he was working and couldn't come to see me as easily) and sometimes I would go straight to class from the train station because I spent the night at his place. Needless to say my studying suffered a bit. After about a year I decided I didn't want to commute all the time anymore, I had failed an important class and needed to change schools anyways, so I moved in with hubby and went to school closer to were we lived. We eventually moved to a bigger apartment and I finished school in 2006. I started looking for jobs and at the same time we tried to get pregnant. Well, getting pregnant was more successful than finding a job and so in January 2007 our daughter was born. When I was about 6 months pregnant we moved to Nürnberg because hubby had been promoted and gotten a better paid position. It wasn't easy being pregnant and pretty far away from my parents with no closer friends.

I found a job, working as a freelance counsellor/interviewer for an organisation who offers High School exchange Progams, Au Pair Programs and Work & Travel Programs. I was responsible for screening, interviewing and checking applications. I also went to job fairs and held presentations, I really liked it. Unfortunately over the years I started having problems/disagreements with one of my co-workers (who was unfortunately "above" me in the company hierarchy) so I had to quit by the end of last year. I also briefly worked at Starbucks but the shifts were horrible (timewise) and I didn't get to see my daughter much anymore so I quit.

In 2007 I got married to my wonderful husband (our daughter was about 6 months then) in a small courthouse in my hometown with only our families there. We decided to plan a huge church wedding for 2008 and so we got married "again" in a wonderful church close to hubbys hometown. Afterwards we left our daughter with my parents (she was 18 months) and went on our honeymoon to Singapore and Bali. About 9 months later our son was born ;)

As I have been only a housewife and mommy since the beginning of this year I tried to find something to do which I like and which gives me some perspective. I discovered that I really enjoy baking, not regular "baking a marble cake" baking but fancy baking, with buttercream and fondant and food coloring and everything. I have been fairly creative most of my life, I stiched and sewed, I design and crafts our christmas cards, I scrapbooked a bit (regular and digital). I started a lot of things but most of the time I found that it is very time-consuming and with two kids that's one thing I don't really have, at least not for myself or in long stretches like you need it when you do crafts. Hubby has to work a lot too and is not much of a help when it comes to babysitting because I want to spent some time by myself doing artsy or crafty stuff.

I am dreaming about opening my only little bake shop/catering shop to sell cakes/cookies/cupcakes but I am not sure if that will happen soon.

Well, hubby just asked if I would come and hop into the pool with him so I will finish this now.

Irene