No, Jason. I haven't blogged lately.

Hi everyone. I'm alive. I'm married, employed and with a cat named Liesl. Life is good. Merry Christmas!

New Years resolutions are coming up soon. Time to begin making my short list.
<3

Musical Mania

Last April was so busy and a small part of the business stemmed from Musical Mania, a fun-filled eight day experience, where staff and students of BBIS prepare a serious quantity of musical pieces.

I love Mania. The singing, dancing, acting and teamwork of it all is amazing to consider. Each year I get to know the participants in new ways. These pictures are the highlights of the experience.

Marshmallow Peep Frog intimidates Alyssa.

Alyssa intimidates me during my nap break. Scary!

No pictures during my beautification, please.

We're too darn hot!

Dancing Queens

Vogue

The BBIS staff Musical Mania participants

Berlin after the holiday

After returning to Berlin from our holiday, I was tired, yet gleeful. We had so much to do, between sorting out wedding things like choosing invitations, getting engagement pictures, and spending time with one another. These were some of my favorite days of his trip because they were more like normal life. We had brunch, went to H&M (where Jason bought new pants and the shirt I suggested!), went to the top of the Reichstag, talked and went for walks. Here are some images of those last days of his trip.

Jason and the hat he tried on three times.

The happy couple in the Reichstag mirrors.

Jason had some interesting maneuvers to get the best "transparency in government" picture.

Just getting to be together. <3

I was desolate after he left. In fact, I wallowed by napping, eating the bulk of my Easter basket, and crying. Then I went for dessert with Alyssa and her parents. (Linus had his blanket. I have chocolate. Back off.)

Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich (From Jason)

Hey Y’all (Amanda and Katie, that’s for you). Upon Ashley’s request, I have undertaken the task of documenting our trip through the Alps and Bavaria for the blogosphere. I’m sure that I’ll be supplemented with Ashley’s comments and additions, but I’ll try to hit some of the highlights.

First, my new fiancé and I boarded a plane headed for Austria. Vienna, initially. This was a city that I was particularly excited to be visiting because; 1) of all the places Ashley has visited, Vienna, Austria wasn’t one of them, and 2) as a bit of a music geek (just a bit...), I had a strong interest in the Austrian capital. Added bonus: as a heavy tourism city, just about everyone spoke English, which meant that Ashley didn’t have to translate ALL of the menus for me! (Thanks for that though, sweetie!) We knew that we had to hurry somewhat, because we were only staying there for a night, so once we found the hotel, we headed right out into the city. Exiting the subway in the heart of the city, we headed immediately into the facade of St. Stephens Cathedral (Yes, before you ask, Mozart played there...) After gawking at the architecture and remaining artwork for a while, we walked on to the Vienna State Operahouse, the “Haus der musik,” and finally the Imperial Apartments. As I was taking a few pictures of the palace, Ashley sits in the grass and says: “Yeah, go ahead and take some pictures. I’ll just be sitting here in the grass. Surrounded by my palace... Blame my dad for me being a princess.” A nice (unintentional) romantic walk through Vienna (ok, really we got on the wrong bus...) concluded our night there. The next day we had a bit more walking time, and before getting on the train, visited a nice Australian grill for lunch. Next up: Salzburg.

Salzburg is picturesque Alps, plain and simple. This may be old hat for some of you world-travelers, but for someone who rarely leaves Ohio, the beauty of Salzburg really struck me as amazing. There was only one thing that was on our “schedule” for Salzburg, and so soon after arriving, we reserved our places on the “Sound of Music” tour. After viewing the sights from Ashley’s favorite movie, we took off once again to see what we could find. I can’t say that it didn’t please me to find site after site of either original or recreated Mozart buildings and artifacts. That evening, we decided to climb was seemed like a mountain (I’m not much of a walker...) to eat dinner at the Augustiner Monk beer hall. These were probably the best sausages we found, and add that to the one litre beers, and all was good at dinner-time that evening. Not in as much of a hurry in Salzburg staying for two nights, we just took it a little easier the whole time and enjoyed each others’ company. The next morning, I realized that we actually hadn’t climbed a mountain the night before... because we were going to this time, up towards the fortress at the top. The next day, we left to go back to Germany, but before heading back to Berlin, we had a two night engagement with the city of Munich.

Our first full day in Munich we left for just outside the city to the town of Dachau to walk through the infamous concentration camp. While I’m fascinated by WWII history, walking the grounds of a concentration camp are both eerie and humbling. For anyone needing a reality check, I recommend visiting a camp such as this one because it really helps one realize how good life is. Needing a bit of a upper activity following the camp, we headed to the center of Munich to the “New Town Hall” (you know, the one with the glockenspiel.) Being the day before Easter, the area was packed with people, which in turn brought out rally-goers and protesters of all sorts. The most interesting came late in the day when it seemed as though every Polizei in Munich was at the train station... not long later, we saw the National Socialist Party protesters headed directly for us. Needless to say, we walked quite a bit quicker back to the hotel to get out of the way of whatever was going to happen. After having a good experience with the “New Europe” tour of Berlin, we decided to take the same tour of Munich. Our guide (Jared, I think? (Ashley's note: Yeppers!)) was very knowledgeable and the tour was half history of Munich and half history of Munich’s role in the war. It was a good mix in my opinion. We had two separate trips to the “Hofbrauhaus” where Ashley had her “scrambled pancakes,” and insisted on getting her picture taken with a stranger... because he was wearing lederhosen. Easter Sunday got started on a rough note as we had to find an open Apotheke for a jaw issue that had one side of my face swollen, but Ashley’s maternal instincts kicked in and we got the thing taken care of. (Side note: never try to find an open doctor’s office in Germany on Easter Sunday... NOT easy!) Before we left to head back to Berlin, we took a walk through a park to eat some lunch. The most irony we found throughout the entire trip was at this point as we watched a GERMAN ‘Oom-Pah’ band playing ‘Don’t Cry for Me ARGENTINA’ inside a CHINESE Pagoda in the ENGLISH garden. Crazy, no? After this lunch, we started back towards the airport to get back to Ashley’s apartment in Berlin.

If you’re ever given the opportunity to see these parts of the world (for those of you who haven’t yet...) I certainly recommend doing so. If you choose to do it as we did, prepare yourself to be completely exhausted before all is said and done. It was well worth it though.

Back to you Sweetheart...

The engagement...

So, remember back in February when I told you all that big things were happening in my life? Then, I tried to play off the big things as my trip to London and AGIS? (Lame, I know.) Well, actually the big thing was that on Feb. 1st, Jason went to my parents and asked for their blessing. It was an especially super Superbowl Sunday.

Since then we've been planning, organizing, dreaming and decision-making about the wedding non-stop and even though I'm far from home (where the wedding will take place) I'm enjoying the process. (More on this at a later date. I know what you want... the big knee-dirty story!

When Jason arrived, I knew he would propose at some point during the trip. We had limited opportunities and had an appointment for engagement pictures scheduled for the Monday before he left. I predicted he wouldn't pop the question the day he arrived or the day afterward (too soon), but would before we left for our travels (so we could call people and tell them the good, yet already established news). Well, on Friday I opened my big mouth and said, "I bet you'll propose on the day you shave." At the time, I didn't know that he was planning to shave on Saturday and propose that day, but in his mind there was no connection between the two acts. Well, no connection until I pointed it out. As many of you know one of my childhood nicknames was Bossy Brooke. This personality quirk has remained with me and Jason is careful to not let me get away with bossing him around... so he decided to hold the proposal back a day

Saturday rolls around and J and I spend the day being touristy (while I anticipate the proposal). We had a great day, but when it ended... no ring.

On Sunday I woke up and thought, "Today is it! I'm going to bring him to all of the romantic places in Berlin. Are there romantic places in Berlin?" After some shower brainstorming I came up with a game plan. I was going to help set the stage for a beautiful moment.

First, we went to brunch at my second favorite brunch place. It is cozy, has a tasty buffet, and is intimate. What could be sweeter? My coffee even included a hint...

After brunch, we went to the Pergammon Museum. In this museum they reassembled an entire Greek temple. Just entering the main hall full of that ancient marble makes me swoon. The stories of Zeus and Athena, Hercules and the gang are so dramatic, just as we are. As we entered we were given headsets... not so romantic.

When we left the Pergammon, we decided to go to the Berliner Dom, a beautiful church and climb to the top for breath-taking views of Berlin. It was warm, we were (are) in love, the moment was right... although there were several loud Texan tourists asking (loudly) about the sights...

After the Berliner Dom crypt (no, thanks), I thought we might sit in the grassy at the Lustgarten, but Jason wanted a wurst in the worst way. (I couldn't help myself.) I live to please, so...

It was nearly 3:45 and I was a bit exasperated at this point. Berlin is not a very romantic city. Historical? Yes. Fascinating? Yes. Multi-cultural? Yes. Romantic? No. Finding places which say, "Love me do," is not as simple as I'm making it appear on the blog. So, I asked Jason if he had something to do next in mind. He mentioned a walking tour my friend Katy had told us about, so we strolled down Unter den Linden to meet the group. When we got to the meeting spot at the Brandenburg Gate we discovered that the 4 pm tour was a myth. So, we went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

As I mentioned, Berlin is not so romantic and this place could be on Letterman's Top Ten least romantic places in the world next to the Congo and the denk midget hole under the stairs at BHS. After pondering the meaning of the memorial, we decided to explore the museum under the monument. At this point the Indian food we'd had on Friday was upsetting me and I was in a serious search for a restroom. It was a good thing I was distracted because... the museum under the memorial had a metal detector. I went through the detector first and the clerk told Jason to empty his pockets. Little did I know, the ring was in his pocket. Jason had been carrying it all day, waiting for the perfect moment to pop the question. Later, he told me that he tried to conceal the ring under a chapstick. Very cool. :)

After touring the museum we took a walk through the Tiergarten, a beautiful, sprawling park near the main sites of Berlin. As we strolled hand-in-hand we chatted about nothing and everything. The day was sunny, we were grateful to be alive, and happy-in-love. Perfect, right? Then, Jason saw a golden domed statue in the distance and we decided to walk toward it. As we approached, we saw... Mozart and two of his cronies. Jason has a serious devotion to Wolfie and my heart started to pound. Did he look up this statue? Did he bring me here for a reason? Does he want to get his knee dirty in front of Amadeus? I just kept thinking, "not here not here not here not here not here." Jay must have heard my thoughts because after a series of photos we kept walking. It was near 6 pm at this point and we had dinner plans with Katy and her family, so we decided to go back to my apartment for a break and to clean-up.

We returned to my apartment where I checked my email to see a message from my Aunt Mary Ellen asking if Jason had proposed yet and asking what the ring looked like. I thought about pulling out my hair, but instead I announced that I was going to take a nap. Jason perched on the edge of my bed as I got under the covers and started to check his email. We were chatting and then he started to tease me. I announced that I was sleeping and pulled the covers over my head. Then he said, "Pull the covers down." I grumped, "no!" After repeating the previous phrase, he slowly pulled down the cover and I saw a sparkling diamond hanging over my head. I grinned and sat up as he held my hands. Then, J launched into a story about through the day he was looking and waiting for the perfect moment. Unfortunately, Berlin isn't our place and the only perfect place could be at my apartment because it is where "we" spend our time (online and on the phone albeit). He then spoke lovely, beautiful words to me (which I plan on keeping private) and finally got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said, "Yeah!"

Here we are on the subway heading out to dinner as an engaged couple. Notice the well-placed hand!

Jason's visit- Sunday

We got engaged!

Oh, you want the whole story? All in good time (provided that good time will follow Musical Mania). Until then, here are some engagement pictures.

If you see him, tell him I miss him.

Jason's visit- Saturday

On Saturday, Jason and I had a wandering kind of day.

After a leisurely breakfast (eggs and crepes) Jason and I went to meet Alyssa's boyfriend, the Winterfeldplatz Market and then dropped by Alyssa and Rachel's flat for a visit. Next we had lunch at an amazing Italian place and then spent some time at the Story of Berlin Museum and bomb shelter. After that, we went to the Kaiser Wilhelm church and for a ride on the Bus 200 (a public bus which passes most of the sites of Berlin). In the evening, we stopped by KaDeWe for a window shopping excursion and had dinner with Rachel and Alyssa at the Irish Pub.