The Traveling Artist

USA Vacation – some pix and stories

I know it is about three weeks ago I’m back from our vacation and I guess I should have shown the pictures earlier- but as some of you already know I have a bit of a rough time right now. My two grandaunts and my mother were in hospital as soon as I came home from the States . My mother and my one aunt are doing fine now- but while it looked a couple days as if my aunt Margot is going to be released from the hospital today, she got high fever again and get’s infusion and feels really bad.

So to get myself in a happy mood now I share some of my vacation photos with you:

We flew to NJ where we visited our family and had a big family dinner and then the next day we continued on to San Francisco to stay with our friends Marina and Karsten and their babygirl which we hadn’t seen so far.  We had such a wonderful time with them and I can’t wait to see them after Christmas then they are going to visit us!

hahaha- I love this photo of Marina- it is so her!

The visit war really short and the next evening we drove up north into the Wine country to visit our friends Joe and Jen who live on a vineyard.

One of the highlights was that we went to Occidental to see our friend playing- she is amazing!

It was sad to go -we haven’t seen them in three years and I so hope we will see them quicker again this time

From there we drove to Sequoia Nationalpark where we spent two nights. It was amazing.

General Sherman – huge huge huge- look how small my husband looks like and still the tree is not in total in the pic.

And the saw bear number one- who was as frightened as we were

We also saw a lot of those cuties

and another bear – he was sooo cute – from far away and in a car – LOL

He was eating the seed out of one of those little cones

We hiked through the woods without seeing one person for hours!

Then we we drove to Las Vegas – with a little drive through the Mojave Desert

Las Vegas was a bit of shock- LOL- after being away from civilisation and craziness- but we had fun and finally connected with our friends Karen and Bill for the rest of the trip.We stayed at the MGM Grand – holy moly that is the biggest hotel I have ever been to!

Karen and me – having a good time

Meeting more friends for lunch…so crazy to see all the NJ people in Las Vegas- LOL

we went to the Secret Gardens at the Mirage

Just hanging out- LOL

We went to a show by Cirque Du Soleil: Beatles Love- Oh my gosh it was amazing. I started crying at “Here comes the sun”. here is a video – not really showing how it is life- but it was amazing!

[youtube width=”325″ height=”271″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzXnYPMab2c[/youtube]

To tell you the truth though – I was happy to leave Las Vegas- it was fun..but I don’t need it again or longer than two days. So the four of us made our way over the Hoover Dam into Arizona. Here are some road impressions

And then we arrived at the Grand Canyon- ohhh my – that was so mind blowing. We had a picnic at sunset and were stunned!

Look- that’s me- LOL

And the first of our many album cover photos…LOL

Our cabin right at the edge!

We went 1/3 down the Canyon the next day- it was an amazing hike.

I love this picture that Bill took of me and Jim

Lunchbreak and before hiking up again – ppuhhhh

Lot’s of screaming that day- LOL

In the evening we went out for dinner at the Grand Canyon Village and as we were heading out for a Ranger Programme about Mountain Lions we saw Elks- and we heard them. Fighting- loud bams and squeeking too. One of the watchers was knocked over and I tell you – I was more scared of the Elks than of the Bears ;)

I liked the little ones better ;)

And then the next day we had to say good bye to Grand Canyon to continue to Utah.

I will post more tomorrow- hope I didn’t bore you – but I feel at least better just remembering the trip and looking at the pictures. Have a great day!

Nat

  • Michelle

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    So sorry to hear about your mom and your aunt’s hope they are all out of the hospital now. Love that screaming picture!

    Reply

  • Louloupi

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    What a wonderfull trip !!!!

    I’m here….on your blog … ;-)

    Greetings from France ;-)

    Louloupi ;-)

    Reply

  • sylvia

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    absolutely fantastic pics Nat!!! i do hope everything goes well with your great-aunt!!hugs from here!

    Reply

  • Karen

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    I sh** you not, we saw elk!

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  • Sasha Farina

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    sweetheart, so sorry to hear about your mom and aunts.. how are they now?

    Reply

  • Thomas

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    Als alter Besserwisser erlaube ich mir zu bemerken, dass es sich um Hirsche(dears) und nicht um Elche handelt, die da gekämpft haben. Bei unserem Besuch im Grand Canyon standen die morgens immer vor dem Zelt. Tolle fotos, es ist schon wieder so lange her, dass wir anläßlich Deiner Hochzeit dort waren.

    Reply

  • Cat

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    gorgeous, makes me want to go out that way on our vacation! xox.

    Reply

  • bill

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    Great pics Nat!! They really do make me feel like I was there with you!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    I could never be bored by one of your posts and especially not one that included your pics! I so feel as if I traveled there with you. I have never been to the Grand Canyon or Vega and I loved seeing your pics. Your grand aunt continues to be in my prayers.

    Reply

  • Ann-Katrin

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    Wow, so many beautiful pictures. Seems like a nice trip.

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  • Kim Sonksen

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    Amazing pictures – it feels like I have been there right with you.
    And that XXYYZZ Road sign cracks me up!

    Reply

  • Kat

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    Klasse Fotos, Nat!!

    Und ich hoffe, dass es Deiner Tante bald besser geht!!

    Reply

  • jana

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    Oh Nat, ich bekomme FERNWEH! Wunderschöne Fotos, ich schau mir gerne mehr an! Alles Liebe für dich und deine Familie!

    Reply

  • Natasja

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    Boring?! No way! Looking forward to see more. Hope your aunt feels better soon
    xo

    Reply

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Workshops in Austria – Scrapqueens Designtage

FUN – that describes it best :) It was a wonderful weekend, amazing organization by the Scrapqueens` owners Karin and Conny, heartful and warm welcome by them and the other girls, a beautiful location Galerie Zentgraf for the workshop itself and an amazing landscape. Austria is pretty cool  and I want to come back :)

SPASS – beschreibt es in einem Wort am Besten :) Es war ein wunderschönes Wochenende, eine grandiose Organisation durch die Scrapqueens Besitzer Karin und Conny, ein herzliches und warmes Willkommen durch die Beiden und alle anderen Mädels, ein genialer Ort  für die Workshopräume in der Galerie Zentgraf und eine zauberhafte Landschaft umherum.  Österreich ist ganz schön schön und ich will bald wieder zurück :)

After the flight to Vienna we were picked up by Karin and drove about an hour to Lake Neusiedl where we had a nice talk to the girls and a drink.

In Wien angekommen hat Karin uns abgeholt und nach einer weiteren Stunde kamen wir am Neusiedler See an, wo wir noch ein wenig mit den Mädels schnakten und ein leckeres Getränk – LOL – zu uns nahmen.

The workshops started on Saturday and it was amazing again how different the results were. Here are some samples drying.

Die Workshops fingen am Samstag an und es war wie immer toll für mich zu sehen, wie unterschiedlich die Ergebnisse waren. Hier ein paar Projekte beim Trocknen.

Everyone was in a good mood and after  a while I think even the people that don’t like messy stuff enjoyed themself. :)

Alle war in super Stimmung und nach einiger Zeit verloren, glaube ich auch diejenigen, die normalerweise keine Panscherei mögen, die Scheu vor Acrylfarben :)

We had a nice lunch outside on the terrace and it was really hot!

Wir hatten ein nettes Mittagessen auf der Terrasse und es war wirklich dolle heiß!

here a food photo – you know I can’t go without one – LOL

hier also ein Essenphoto- wie Ihr wisst, kann ich es nicht lassen -LOL

Christiane and me

After the second workshop we went to eat Pizza and strolled around a bit in Mörbisch.

Nach dem zweiten Workshop sind wir Pizza essen gegangen und haben ein wenig von Mörbisch gesehen.

There is a lot of wine growing there and they were harvesting the grapes with those tiny little tractors.

In der Gegend wird ja viel Wein angebaut und zur Zeit findet auch die Weinlese statt, die mittels dieser winzig kleinen Traktoren umgesetzt wird.

And afterwards we went back to the Galerie Zentgraf and joined a wine tasting session. They do their own wine there and it was pretty good! I really loved the concept there of good food, art and wine  and the family atmosphere!

Nach dem Essen sind wir wieder zu der Galerie gegangen und haben dort eine Weinprobe mitgemacht. Die Besitzer Ralf und Bettina machen nämlich auch Wein und der war auch ziemlich lecker! Das Konzept von gutem Essen, Kunst und Wein als auch die familiäre Atmospäre fand ich wirklich toll!

We went to bed early and the next day we had again fun teaching our workshops!

Wir sind früh ins Bett gegangen und hatten am nächsten Tag wieder einen Heidenspaß beim Workshop unterrichten !

Walking to work :)

Weg zur Arbeit :)

It was such a wonderful group! Thank you all so much!

Es war so eine tolle Gruppe an beiden Tagen ! Vielen Dank Euch allen!

After the latest workshop, shopping in the awesome Scrapqueens shop and some packing, Conny took as to the Lake were we enjoyed the beautiful landscape and sunset and asked somebody to take a picture of us. Unfortunatley it is blurry and more unfortunatley Karin wasn’t with us- but it totally shows the warm and settled feeling we all had at that moment :)

Nach dem letzten Workshop, Shoppen im grandiosen Scrapqueensladen und Packen, hat Conny uns dann runter an den See gefahren, wo wir die schöne Landschaft und den  Sonnenuntergang genossen. Wir haben jemanden gefragt, ein Photo von uns zu machen, leider ist es unscharf geworden und es fehlt auch leider Karin darauf – aber es zeigt ziemlich gut was für ein warmes und zufriedenes Gefühl uns in diesem Moment erfüllte :)

Thank you so much Conny and Karin for inviting me! I had a gorgeous time!

Vielen Dank Conny und Karin für die Einladung! Ich hatte ein tolle Zeit mit Euch!

Nat

  • May Harvey

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    Hi Nathalie, Sorry its taken me so long to add to the comments. Life has been rather hectic since getting back in Sept to Abu Dhabi. Have been so busy with visitors visiting us. Just want to say thankyou very much for the great week-end on the Scrapqueen’s workshop, I enjoyed it so much. I hope to go again next year. Happy Christmas to you and your family Regards May Harvey

    Reply

  • daxl

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    Hallo Nat!

    Danke nochmals für dieses tolle Wochenende und den Spaß denn wir hatten, hoffe wir sehen uns mal wieder!
    Lg, Dagmar

    Reply

  • Annemarie

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    How fun! I love that photo of “walking to work.” Thanks for sharing. I want to go now.

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  • holly*

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    so fun! you take some of the most beautiful photos i have ever seen!!!!

    Reply

  • milkcan

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    What an awesome looking trip!! I love the look of that classroom!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    What wonderful sights while you walk to the workshops…great pics and wonderful group pic (doesn’t look too blurry to me).

    Reply

  • karin

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    Das Danke geht an Dich und Christiane, ihr ward super! Wirklich ein tolles Wochenende, so viel Spass hatte ich schon lange nicht mehr xoxo

    Reply

  • Sandra

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    *lol* Und da ist sie wieder, die Kleiderschürze *lol*
    Aber tolle Bilder hast du geschossen, ich kann meine erst am Freitag anschauen *seufz* Von dem Workshop werd ich noch lange zehren, danke danke danke dafür! ;)

    Reply

  • Conni

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    Danke dir für drei fantastische Tage voll Kreativität und Spaß, in denen du “Farbe” in unser Leben gebracht hast. Wir vermissen dich schon jetzt, mein “Zwutschgerl”!

    Reply

  • Cat

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    It sounds HEAVENLY!!

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  • ellen s

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    the pics are amazing. i can’t imagine looking at that walking to work. is so peaceful and no cars…{sigh} no cars or noise…glad you had a great time and the beer looks yummy! i love lager ;)

    Reply

  • Yvonne

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    Es war ganz ganz toll mit euch!
    LG Yvonne

    Reply

  • Daphne

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    “joined a wine tasting session”…. hmmm…it was a great trip indeed hehe…

    Reply

  • Kim Sonksen

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    Awesome pictures! Wish I would have been there with you guys

    Reply

  • Jen Davis

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    What a fun re-cap of everything! Looks like a wonderful time, thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  • Jen Martakis

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    Wow! It looks like so much fun! I love your photos. The perspective is wonderful. :)

    Reply

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Barcelona Photos -Part II

And here we continue ….So we went to the Casa Mila!

As soon as we stepped out onto the roof terrace it started raining cats and dogs! And it didn’t stop so we had to leave the terrace.

here is a picture of the hallway

and from a balcony from the inside of an apartment

So we walked down to the Casa Batllo and got totally wet – so just a quick shot of the beautiful house. I need to go back to Barcelona to see it :)

Oh and of course you need to see a picture of my favorite tapas- LOL – piementos de padron

We had a fun evening and slept in long!-

on monday we headed out to Parc Guell.

It was also designed by Gaudi – amazing!

See those little critters in the palmtree? They were so funny and LOUD!!!!

For lunch we went to the La Boqueria – the Market. I love markets as you know when you know me – LOL

On the La Rambla Casa dels Paraigües (House of Umbrellas)

And we strolled around a bit and went back to the ocean

and we were relaxed and totally satisfied :)

It was so amazing- I really want to come back – this city is wonderful, inspiring and fun!

Nat

  • Renata Pacheco

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    Barcelona is such a wonderful place! I’d love to go there. so much inspiration!

    Reply

  • Cat

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    What a gorgeous place, love all the mosaics!

    Reply

  • Marion

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    Die Bilder lassen vermuten, dass dir Barcelona sehr gut gefallen hat :). Und es macht Spaß diese tollen Bilder anzugucken.
    Wünsche dir eine schöne Woche.
    LG Marion

    Reply

  • AlexM

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    Hi Nat!
    I’m glad to see that you enjoyed your stay in Barcelona, and I hope you had fun with your workshops. It is so bad I could not be here but since you look interested in coming back I hope we’ll do it next time.:) Hugs,

    Reply

  • Jenny

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    looks like a cool and colorful place ;)

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  • Sue Clarke

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    I feel like I’ve been to a place after I’ve seen your photos Nat!

    Reply

  • heather

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    I have been everywhere for Spain, but I’ve not seen that!

    It was always FAR away from Portugal and Madrid. I know I will get there.

    Thanks for the inspiring fotos, no?

    Reply

  • Michelle

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    Just gorgeous! I really wanted to go to Barcelona while visiting last year and just couldn’t fit it in. You make me want to go even more with your glorious photos and stories!

    Reply

  • jana

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    wow- da bekomm ich so Lust auf einen trip nach Barcelona- tolle Fotos!

    Reply

  • Kim Sonksen

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    Stunning pictures Nat and i can totally understand why you want to go back. I adore Gaudi and that is the only reason why I would want to go to Barcelona, but Lyndon is not interested…hmpfh. i didn’t know there was SO MUCH Gaudi stuff to be seen though. Thanks yo your picces, I need to come up with a plan how to get Lyndon to Barcelona withe me :)

    Reply

  • maja

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    Barcelona ist wirklich eine tolle Stadt! ich beneide dich echt, dass du jetzt da warst Im Partk Güell war ich damals auch und habe Unmengen Fotos gemacht. Viel Spaß übrigens nächste Woche in den NL!

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Barcelona Photos -Part I-

I told you I will show you lot’s of pictures- LOL – so if you are only here to look at my projects- they will come soon :)

Sunday morning we headed out to the Pablo Picasso Museum which is the in the  Barri Gòtic – the center of the old city of Barcelona.

All the stores had shutters which were closed sunday morning and on top there was often Graffiti – not always illegal graffiti – since it seemed as if the store owners did some advertising store graffiti on them too. I liked this!

From the museum, which we really liked a lot – we walked to the harbour.

We took the cable car up to  Montjuïc and there we walked even more – LOL.

here is a picture of us- not the best- LOL  but hey…what can you do? ;)

then we walked down to the Joan Miró Park where we found his Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird)

And then it was time for a siesta :) And afterwards we headed out to the Sagrada Familia! WOWWWW – I was blown away by the details, the ideas, the whole concept! Amazing! It is under construction since 1882 and full of symbolism – it blew me away and made me an instant Gaudi Fan!

Gaudi planned the branching columns in the shape of a tree for the church- as he loved to include nature shapes into his work

Another thing I loved was that you could see the workspaces where the constructions go on and the plans – I think my friend Bill who is an architect would have had a blast here :)

From there we went to the Casa Mila- another Gaudi building- former apartment building.And there you have Gaudi-Lampposts with Benches on the street- such a cool idea! although I just read that these are mistakenly thought to be by Gaudi – so I have to do some research. Anyway- they are cool :)

I leave you with this for now- I think this is already picture heavy- LOL. Be prepared to see more ;)

Nat

  • Michelle

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    Wow wow wow! What incredible works of art Gaudi created. Love all the detailed photographs you shared! I especially love your photo of the balcony art work (underneath it). Very cool stuff!

    Reply

  • Daphne

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    aaahh.. the picasso museum is my favorite museum in Barca! And I always wanted to get married in the Sagrada Familia… I guess if I would have won the lottery I could have made a big donation and they would let have my wedding there :-)

    Reply

  • Kim Sonksen

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    Hey you can show as many pictures as you like because as always they totally ROCK. I am not a great lover of art but whenever I see how you capture it I want to go where you have been. Awesome stuff!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    I smiled at the pic with the sneakers in the foreground;-)
    Looks like it would be worth a trip just to see that incredible building! Thanks for sharing your photos Nat.

    Reply

  • katja

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    ich sitze gerade mit meiner pauli-tasse, gefüllt mit Carokaffe vorm mac und bewundere deine tollen fotos :-)
    echt klasse!

    (will auch mal wieder weg!)

    viele liebe grüße, katja

    ps. die beiden layouts von deinem workshop sind nune ndlich fertig geworden, kannst ja mal reinschaun wenn du magst …

    Reply

  • Tina

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    Tolle Bilder und ein super-süsßes Bild von Euch beiden! :-)
    Wann kommst Du wieder?? ;-)
    Liebe Grüße, Tina

    Reply

  • Andrea

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    Wow, so viele geniale Motive & Fotos … scheint ja echt mal eine Reise wert zu sein die Stadt – sehr sehr cool und vielseitig :)

    Reply

  • Mireia

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    UAU!!
    Ich will PART II!!!!!
    Es ist unglaublich wie unterschidlich Barcelona sein kann abhängig wer der Stadt besucht :))
    Deine Bilder sind wunderschön!
    LG, Mireia

    Reply

  • Marion

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    So viele schöne Fotos. Danke für´s Zeigen.
    Wünsche Dir eine schöne Restwoche.
    LG Marion

    Reply

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London Photos

Here are some photos from my short trip to London – it was really fun and besides a kind of rainy Saturday the weather was amazing.

Hier noch ein Photos von meinem Kurztrip nach London- es hat echt Spaß gemacht und außer dem etwas trüben Samstag was das Wetter echt total genial.

:)

Nat

  • Andrea

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    Wow – so tolle Fotos – ich kann mich gar nicht sattsehen und erst recht nicht entscheiden welche mir am besten gefallen – sind alle großartig! Scheint, als hättest Du ne geniale Zeit in London gehabt :)

    Reply

  • kim whitten

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    great photos!!!!
    looks like you had a fun trip.

    Reply

  • Jenneke

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    GREAT pictures!!! I love London!!

    Reply

  • Michelle LaPoint Rydell

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    You live such an adventurous life! I love your pics! I really love seeing all the urban art you find!

    Reply

  • Sue Clarke

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    WOW and these would not be your pics if they didn’t have street art amongst them! I sure do envy how much you get to travel.

    Reply

  • Kim Sonksen

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    I love to see London through someone else’s eyes. It always makes me re-discover the coolness

    Reply

  • Natasja

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    Great pics girlie!

    xo
    Natas

    Reply

  • Sylvia

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    Lucky you Nat! Weatherwise you didn’t miss anything here…..

    Reply

  • christiane

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    a digeridoo, right?? can’t wait to hear it!! ;)
    fab pics, hun!! :D

    Reply

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Bavaria Workshop – or ….clam pusher meets mountain clambers

Clam pushers? Mountain Clambers? Well…for everybody who doesn’t live in Germany…LOL – some call us here in the north “fish heads” or “clam pushers” and we say that our river Elbe is the “Weisswurst Equator” – so everything south of the river Elbe in Hamburg belongs to Bavaria anyway and is….DIFFERENT- LOL.But anyway- Friday I entered the plane and flew to Munich where Birgit picked me up. We went to Reisbach where she lives- about an hour away from Munich in Lower Bavaria. We had a wonderful chatty Friday, I taught my workshops on Saturday and Sunday we went sightseeing in Munich. But let me show you some pictures :)

Ihr wisst ja sicherlich, dass wir Hamburger sagen, dass alles südlich der Elbe zu Bayern gehört…somit wird die Elbe auch Weißwurst-Äquator genannt – aber dennoch hat mich das als Muschelschubser nicht abgehalten zu den Bergkraxlern zu fliegen  -LOL. Birgit hat mich am Freitag am Flughafen in München abgeholt, wir haben viel geratscht (!) und dann am Samstag gab ich dann die Workshops, während es Sonntags wieder nach München zum sightseeing ging. Aber seht selbst anhand der Fotos :)

*Thank you Birgit*

First of all I would like to thank Birgit who organised the whole thing and had me over in her wonderful house and was the most amazing host ever. Thanks Sweets- you rock!!!!

Als erstes möchte ich mich bei Birgit bedanken, die das Ganze organisiert hat und ein wundervoller Gastgeber war. Danke Dir Du Süße – Du rockst!!!!

*Church in Reisbach*

*Our Workshop Place*

*First Workshop – Backgrounds with Paints and Glimmer Mists”

The right clothing is really important to not mess up your clothes…litter bags can come really handy- LOL

Die richtige Kleidung ist beim Rumpantschen elementar – Müllbeutel können da  wirklich gelegen kommen- LOL

I loved that everyone was eager to try everything and play with the paint. I can’t really repeat the jokes I write in German…cause they all have to do with the Bavarian idioms and there is no way I can translate this nearly as close to English- so sorry- you miss out- LOL

Ich sag nur: Brrrrruddahl viel Fab und ich habe mich so gefreut, dass alle alles mal ausprobiert haben. Und koi einzige oide zwiedawuazn – alles liebe, offene und nette Leute :)

*Lunch*

*Pictures Prima Workshop: When I was”

*Munich Sightseeing*

The Chinese tower in the English Garden – built in 1789 – and hosting some ompha ompha music while we were there.

Der Chinesische Turm im Englischen Garten, erbaut in 1789 und mit einer richtigen Bayerischen Kombo ;)

Monopteros – 1836

So many nice relaxing areas!

Clam Fountain in Dianatempel –  1613

Theatine Church – 1663 – huuuuugeee church- this is just a tiny piece of it

Didn’t take long till I saw someone in the Bavarian Tracht (National Costume) – this is a little secret hip shot

The New Town Hall- built in 1874

*Leberkäse-Cam*

Kind of a Bavarian Meat Loaf (and dispite it’s name it doesn’t contain liver or cheese!)

That was it. A really fun weekend and I hope we can do this again and meet again!

Das wars. Ein wirklich tolles Wochenende! Ich hoffe wir können das mal wieder machen und sehen uns alle wieder!

Nat

Comments (28)

  • Michelle

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    WOW, I loved seeing all of your incredible photos! I missed a lot of Munich even though I was there for 3 days!

    Reply

  • Maj-Britt

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    Was für ein Bericht … und ich kenne einen Teil der Mädels jetzt endlich auch IRL *froi*
    Hätte gern zusammen mit euch geschmaddert ;-)

    Reply

  • Andrea

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    Der Workshop war wirklich brutal prima! So inspirierend, daß ich den doppelten Espresso wahrscheinlich gar nicht gebraucht hätte;) Und statt ins Bett zu gehen hab ich weiter gepanscht..hab grad Ölkreiden für mich entdeckt! Danke für die Inspirationen und den Anstoß wieder zu panschen! LG Andrea

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Workshops at PortraitBug New York City

So finally I can show you some pictures of my workshops in NYC at PortraitBug. It was so much fun. Kim the owner is amazingly sweet as well as her hubby and her cute little daughter. I had a great time staying there and I’m sad that Kim lives so far away- it is as she and I connected :-) I also loved the staff – Boys and Girls- you rocked and kept me sane! Thank you so much! Love your spirit and energy! The workshops were creative and fun. I didn’t take photos of my very first workshop with the kids on Friday afternoon – I think I have been a bit too excited – but it went very well and I loved the creativity of the kids!!!

Friday evening I taught my Brayer Workshop two times – which was a lot of fun!

Afterwards was a crop and I went to bed at 3 am. I was unbelievable tired but nonetheless my head was spinning and I think I slept at around 5 am and got up again at 7am. My next workshop on Saturday after sorting Materials and Organization stuff was the Canvas Workshop –  I loved how differently all the canvases turned out and I had a lot of fun and wonderful conversations with all the different women in this class!

I love how this looks like a little Porsche in the City :-)

Brigitte – maybe I’m coming back but otherwise take classes with Julie- she rocks the house!!!

And yeah – a yellow city taxi!

After the Canvas Workshop I taught my “Make It Flatter” Workshop and forgot again to take more pictures :(

Those two were so cute- I loved their laughter :-)

After the workshop I walked to the front of the store and there she was, waiting for me….Julie Fei Fan Balzer!!!! I tell you this girl is the coolest- LOL. I love her! And funny enough I felt as if we know each other for a long time. I tried to rub my hands on her arms all the time (I guess she thinks I’m weird) in hope her creative mojo rubs on to me ;-) We went to a Mexican Restaurant, had a lot of fun and ate yummie and then we went back to the store where Kim had a photosession with us. I do not have the originals yet- these are scanned in from a touching card Kim gave me at the end of the workshops. Boy, I have laughed so hard…I cried LOL.

This is my favorite – with Asher in the front -LOL – look at her cute face!

I know we will see each other again :-)

Afterwards another Crop and going to bed at 2.30 am – Asher when started to show me her wonderful doll house furniture very early in the morning “this is the diaper station, this is the rocker, this is….” – LOL – but you can’t be mad at such a cute little English Teacher, can’t you?

So Sunday morning my 4 1/2 hour acrylic minialbum workshop took place and again I had an amazing time will all the girls :-)

A lot of them I have had the pleasure to know online before and it was absolutley thrilling to get to know them in real life! I hope we will see each other again!

Cheryl – oh boy I wish I lived in NYC to join her NYC Scrapbooking Meetups. Girl you got my heart :-)

Jan: Thank you so much for you wonderful ATC and the sweet words- you rock girl !

Jill – you are the sweetest – big hugs to you!

Sandi you cracked me up – you are so funny and awesome! You and Cheryl made me giggle the whole time :-)

Gotcha! :-)

My last class on sunday was the “When I was…” Minialbum Workshop.

Justin – you are too cool!!! And…maybe he will join this years’ Christmas Ornament Swap – he promised Karen- LOL

Harmonie – see- I told you you would love flowers….there are black flowers in the package also – LOL

And my sweet friend Karen came to the workshop too – see her T-Shirt? How cool is that? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Harmonie thought Karen is a weird stalker though and asked her “Do you know Nat? Because this is a bit scary!” I still laugh about this! LOL. And you will see this T-Shirt on more photos soon – LOL

So that were my workshops in NYC! Thank you all again- and sorry for those of you I missed to take photos of – if you have any- send me photos!!!!! If you want some- email me! Maybe we will see again :-)

…..

Off to my workshops in Denmark – You bet you get some pictures about those workshops too :-)

Nat

  • Michelle

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    Damn, what a marathon! Loved reading and seeing all of your photos. You are superwoman!

    Reply

  • AlexM

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    Wow! It looks like you recovered from your sickness on time. Congrats for your workshops, they are looking amazing!

    Reply

  • heather

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    OMG that looks so great! I would love to join in that kind of fun!
    Who knows, maybe next year!

    Reply

  • christiane

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    LOOOOVE the photos and stories around!! ;)

    Reply

  • Frauke

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    Das sieht nach jeder Menge Spaß aus ! Ich hoffe, eines Tages werde ich auch mal wieder etwas bei dir lernen können und Spaß haben.
    LG Frauke
    PS. Ich hoffe, du hast etwas Zeit und schaust mal auf meinem blog vorbei. Da habe ich was für dich.

    Reply

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Portland Part II – and Waterfalls

Einen lieben Nikolaus Euch allen! Ich habe die Stiefel meines Patenkindes und seines Bruders bereits gefüllt – das ist genauso aufregend wie selber Stiefel rausstellen- LOL.

Happy St. Nicolaus Day! I already filled the boots of my little godson and his brother (that is the German custom – the kids place their self polished shoes/boots the night before the 6th outside and if they were nice they get them filled with Sweets by St. Nicolaus). I was as excited to fill them as I used to be excited to receive them as a kid – LOL

But her are more pictures of Portland and…Waterfalls :-)

I really loved the brick buildings in Portland – I have a soft spot for brick buildings!

and for pizza – LOL

oh and for coffee

The coolest thing on our last day in Portland was the huge Saturday Art Market. Wow. Lot’s  of stands with wonderful self screen printed T-Shirts, self sewn clothing, self crafted jewelery, lamps, wallets, purses, – everything just handcrafted. This places spilled over with colors and inspiration – I was so so happy there! I bought myself some beautiful earrings and we bought a lot of cat and dog toys (well….we have a soft spot for animals too – LOL)

And we did all this whiles listening to this wonderful group of young people singing 80s songs a Capella- awesome

And then we went back to Seattle – with a picnic in the car and a different route this time – the Historic Columbia River Highway. BEAUTIFUL.

We had our picnic outside in the sun – still pretty cold  – with this view:

And Waterfall number I. on our way…I have to look up the name again – mmmhhh

And then a little big bigger – the Bridal Veil Falls – you hear it around the corner while hiking:

And then the Multnomah Falls which are the second highest year round waterfalls in the United States – pretty impressive – I tell you!

It rained – and so I did not a lot of photos there -my little camera got wet :(  – this is just the upper part of the waterfall.

and the lower part of the waterfall – you have to connect those two photos in your mind- LOL

And some last impressions before it got dark

The next day we flew back to Newark on the Eastcoast and more with the last photos about it later :-)

Have a gorgeous Saturday!

Nat

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Portland – Home of Art and Microbrews

And that my friends means Home of Nat- LOL. I love Art and I love good Microbrews- no doubt about it.

Seriously – I fell in Love with this city. I loved how green it is, that it has a tram, that the public transportation in the city center is free, the people – everything. We had a great time there!!!

So here is a happy photo- as you see I still have no fish lense- LOL

And if you are really hungry – I tell you…Portland is THE place *snigger*

We had some tea and lunch at Chinatown

and then went to the awesome Chinese garden  – which is a whole block and pretty big. A real oasis in the middle of the city!

At night we visited Rogue and Deschutes (Rogue is one of my favorites – their Chocolate Stout is to die for and I haven’t had one in a lonnnnng time!)

Oh and I think we need some of those signs in Hamburg too :-)

ok- a little bit more about Portland tomorrow. I hope you are not tired yet ….you know like the eye rolling when the dia-show never ends- LOL.

Nat

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