Home.

Today was a “creative” day.

So here I am writing a personal post.

A journal prompt I found on Pinterest told me to write about “The place I called home”.

There are multiple places I call “home”. 

1. Home with Micha.

Home is wherever Micha is. My husband wraps me in love, comfort and security. I feel most myself with him. He sees every bit of me. I don’t have to /can’t hide. Home with him right now in our lives is in the best little apartment in a house in Steinbach, Germany that has a lot of windows and the best landlords with a big garden. We hear the birds in the morning and can see the Black Forest from our balcony. This is home.

2.   Home in Germany.

Home is Germany. More specifically also in NRW where my host families live in Südlohn. That was home for a year and still feels like home whenever I am there. I try to get back home whenever possible. I will be heading home in a few weeks!

3.   Home in Canby, Oregon.

Home is in this small house in Canby, Oregon where my family no longer lives. I grew up in that house. It will always be home to me. The backyard, my room, the kitchen, the tree in the front yard, it’s all home.

4.   Home with my parents.

My parents have both moved into new houses now, which is weird for me. But, home is wherever family is. I will always feel at most at home when they are there. I feel like a little girl again. I miss them dearly and can’t wait to head to their homes in August.

5.   Home in heaven.

My home is in heaven with my God. My soul longs for Him and His Kingdom. That is my future home and I can’t wait to be there with Him, whenever He calls me home.

Until then, I find my temporary home in #s 1-4.

Until next time,

Sara ❤

Self Love: Day 4

Day 4: Write down one thing you need to forgive yourself for- and then forgive yourself.

Man. There are a lot of things in my life that I am not proud of. However, I suppose if none of those things had happened, then I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today.

A lot of the things are things I have already processed through and have already forgiven myself for.

However, one of the things that is more difficult is to forgive myself of the hate towards myself that I had for a very long time.

That hate would come out in various ways in my life. I tried to fill that hole with attention- especially from boys-, unhealthy attitude towards food (binging and starving cycles), and a lot of time spent online amongst other negative people. In high school I began to speak hate over my life and after graduating high school, I said and meant “I hate myself”. It started out as a joke and then became a very real feeling.

Although I would not say that today, some of those things that I did that stemmed from it, are sometimes still very present in my actions or thoughts.

Today, I declare love over myself and speak against the power of past decisions or feelings. I declare a healthy relationship with food and speak love over my body. I want to begin taking care of myself not for other worldly reasons, other than glorifying God and loving myself and the body He gave me.

I forgive myself.

See you tomorrow,

Sara xoxo

Self Love: Day 3

Day 3: Write about one personality trait that you love about yourself and why.

I sometimes find it hard to find adjectives to describe myself. And then to find something that I love about my personality is a whole other hard.

However, I do love my humor.

I got my sense of humor from my dad, movies and a variety of older friends. I can memorize a lot of lines from a lot of movies and pull them out at the perfect time.

I am witty and sometimes sarcastic. I laugh at Youtube videos of people who fall down (sorry.. I am that person..) or dog videos. I love comedies more than drama or even romance. Classic comedies are the best (Airplane, Young Frankenstein, Christmas Vacation).

I think movies that have a lot of sex jokes are not funny. I believe that if you try to make a sex joke in a movie, then you really just can’t come up with anything else and you aren’t funny at all.

I love word play or puns. I love really awkward or weird characters in TV series or movies. Mostly because I am them.

I also use my humor as a defense mechanism. Whenever I feel under pressure or uncomfortable, I make jokes. I do this a lot in sermons when I am nervous. It makes me feel more myself. I enjoy making people laugh. I also make myself laugh sometimes.

I love my sense of humor.

See you tomorrow,

Sara xoxo

Self Love: Day 2

Day 2: Write about one physical feature that you love about yourself and why.

Well, yesterday I got pretty into the whole physical feature thing. But if I could only choose one, it would probably be my green eyes.

I LOVE green eyes. I feel like they are just so unique. In high school I tried to become voted “most unique”. Didn’t happen, but being unique used to be really important to me.

I wish if and when I have kids that they get my green eyes. Not a lot of people have them and they are so beautiful and different.

I’m not really sure what else there is to write about my eyes. Or eyes in general. I’m no poet.

I guess that’s it for todays lesson about me.

See you tomorrow,

Sara xoxo

Self Love: Day 1

Today is my first day of my one week vacation. And I decided to start a Self-Care/Self-Love Journey during these days off and over the holidays.

I went on Pinterest and found multiple “Self Care” challenges and lists and I combined them all and made my own plan. Because I have time this next week, I have written down roughly eight different activities I could do on one day. I started out with just writing down activities for the first week and will hopefully continue on after the week is over.

One of the activities is to write something about yourself every day with different writing prompts. I decided I would write it out on here because:

1. I haven’t been on here in awhile. I miss it.
2. Typing is a lot easier for my mind than writing by hand.

So here I am listening to some Big Band and Swing music (my fave) and all my Christmas lights are turned on with a burning candle in the background. I am set.

Day 1: Write about yourself- include physical characteristics.

The term “write about yourself” is very broad. But I guess I will begin by detailing myself with what I would probably write in a dating profile.

My name is Sara Rose Flubacher and I am 22 years old. I am 5’10” and have medium long brown hair with dirty blonde tips. I have green eyes that I got from my Mama and big size 43 EU/ 11 US feet that I got from my Dad.

I have a little bit more to love than I did when I was 18, but that’s okay. I have quite a bit of muscle in my arms and thighs. So I guess you could say I look a bit broad and husky for a woman (friends might argue with me on this, you’re sweet). I also have fairly wide hips, so that will come in handy once I have a baby.

I have long fingers- no, I don’t play piano… wish I could… (I can play chords, but that’s it). My hands are equally as big. When I was younger and would shake people’s hands, I would think to myself “Why does everyone’s hand feel so small in mine! Everyone has tiny hands!” I thought I had normal size hands, until one day I came to the realisation I just have really large hands. It’s hard to find gloves that fit.

People used to tell me I looked Native American because I have high cheek bones.. not sure if that is still true or not. Although my upper lip is significantly thinner than my bottom lip, my pout is pretty cute, especially when I put on lipstick and kiss a mirror or something flat– looks like a cliche lip/kiss mark you see in movies or on cards.

I have really sweet blonde hairs all over my body. I think they are endearing and my husband loves them, too. If anyone other than myself is reading this, I will let you in on a secret… I have stopped shaving my armpits and legs. I haven’t shaved them since maybe August or September? No, I’m not trying to be a gross hippy. I just always get razor burns and bumps from shaving, so I decided to stop. My husbands jokes and calls me a fluffy polar bear, but I think he has gotten over the initial shock 😉 I trim my armpit hairs if they get to long, but I haven’t shaved them.

My ears are pierced, and also gauged. I have size 0 plugs which I have had for almost 5 years now. I first started gauging my ears when I was 14/15 and I have decided that on January 1, 2017, I will take them out for good and allow my ear lobes to shrink back to normal. I would love to be able to wear normal earrings once again!

My chest is pretty averaged sized, however a guy working at Topshop in Amsterdam who was my stylist told me I have big boobs. I guess boob size is in the eye of the beholder?

I was blessed with decent skin. Growing up I never had serious acne. Pimples or blackheads here and there, but nothing serious. My skin is prone to be oily, but almost never dry. I don’t use lotion or daily moisturizer because my skin doesn’t really need it (or maybe it does, and I am just an idiot).

My nails are pretty and long, however I always get bad hangnails. The skin around it is the worst and always has been. Yes, I trim it and push back the skin in the shower. Anyone got tips?

I don’t have a lot of freckles or moles. In fact, I only have one mole on my whole body. It’s on my right side. As a kid, I used to think it was a scab, so I would try to scratch it away. Didn’t get me very far. I do have a couple of birth marks. Some pale little circles on my legs. When I was younger 1-6 years old, I had a red birth mark on my face next to my nose. My mom used to call it an “Angel’s Kiss”. It eventually went away.

BTW, I am an innie (belly button). Just in case you were wondering.

That’s really all I can think about for now concerning my physical characteristics. I believe throughout this challenge I will be writing more about myself as a person and things I  like or about my personality. So I will leave today where it is.

It was actually fun to write about myself. I was able to reflect over myself and write down the things I love about myself, and maybe even look at my flaws but write them in a positive light. This challenge might work wonders.

I encourage all to try this. It’s fun 🙂

See you tomorrow,

Sara xoxo

Day Guide to Amsterdam: Part 1.

 

Hello, friends!

I am excited to finally be sharing my pictures from our trip to Amsterdam in April with you! I have been pretty busy with a variety of different things, but am excited to be getting this out! I also wanted to include a little bit of a day guide with what we did and where we went.

Enjoy!

 

We first arrived at around noon and checked into our AirBnB which was located in De Pijp– a district of central Amsterdam. It was seriously one of the cutest places I have ever stayed at! Although there were a lot of Buddhist decorations, it wasn’t overwhelming. The only downside was we couldn’t figure out how to manage the shower (that whole hot and cold thing) and every once in a while, the bathroom would smell like weed… pipes from the neighbors…

All in all, it was a wonderful place and I would definitely stay there again! So central and easy to get places. Also far enough away from other tourists.

 

After we were done checking in, we were VERY hungry. Thankfully, our host left us a variety of maps and tourist books on things to do in Amsterdam. In the Lonely Planet book, it recommended “The Butcher”- a burger place with burgers that are grilled right in front of you behind a wall of glass. It was really delicious and a good price! Tip: If you want to go, it is in the middle of the Albert Cuypstraat Market. Be sure to look behind the tents of the vendors! We almost were unable to find The Butcher!

The Albert Cuypstraat is a really cool flea market with a varitey of different things to buy: cheese, flowers, sunglasses, clothes, souvenirs, etc; It’s a long street, too, so there is a lot to look at!

 

After eating and wandering down the Albert Cuypstraat, we walked north on Ferdinand Bolstraat and we stopped by the Heineken Experience. We spontaneously bought tickets online (you save 2€!) and didn’t have to wait in a line when we got there! We were given a bracelet with two little buttons on it which we were able to trade in to get 2 free beers 😀 The museum is seriously SO COOL. You learn about the history of Heineken beer, how they make it, how to drink a beer, how to pour a beer yourself (I was awful at it), and see horses. The whole thing is just so much fun! And you get a free beer. So, what’s better than that? We left as big Heineken fans.

After we left the musuem, we walked along one of the canals and right across from the Rijksmuesem, is a little booth to buy tickets for a canal boat tour. Tickets cost about 18€ for an hour and a half. But different companies offer different tours and different prices. But we were pretty satisfied with what we had 🙂 It was like a bus, it stopped at different places and told you what was in that area to go look at. It’s also cool, because you go through all the different canals. Amsterdam is just so big and it is nearly impossible to see everything, so taking a boat tour is a great option to see a lot and save energy for your feet.

We left the boat the same place we got on, across from the Rijksmuesem (a modern art museum) which was also located near the Van Gogh Museum. We got out and walked around a bit and took some pictures of the I AMSTERDAM sign and the billions of beautiful tulips! Thankfully we were there in April because that was in the time of the Tulip Festival in Amsterdam! If we had more time (and money) we would have taken a day trip out of the city into a tulip field to see windmills and flowers! But, we stayed within the city. Still so beautiful and such a perfect day.

Have you been to Amsterdam? What were some places you saw and did? Go to the same places we did? Tell me about it!

 

Until next time,

Sara xoxo

5 Steps to Overcome Loneliness.

I once read a tweet that said “Being alone is lonely.” Pretty much.

So, here’s the thing about living in a country you didn’t grow up in where everyone you know and love (okay, not everyone…) is 5,000 miles away. It is fun, exciting and adventurous at times! But other times, you feel homesick and just lonely.

Homesickness is a topic for another day, but today I am going to tell you some things that have helped me along the way with dealing with loneliness.

1. Acknowledge the face that although you may feel lonely, you’re actually not alone.

I know this may sound weird, but in reality, we really aren’t alone. There are so many opportunities for us to get out of the house and out of our loneliness and do something about it! There are people in your life. There is DEFINITELY at least one person in your life who cares about you and loves you. It could be your Mom or a best friend or maybe even a person who you wouldn’t expect? Search out that person! Allow yourself to be and feel loved. We all know how good it is to talk with Mom for a little bit.

2. Write down your feelings.

Grab a notebook and a pen and start writing down on paper your emotions and how you’re feeling. Why do you feel lonely? What situation occurred that made you feel that way? Writing can sometimes be a good release. It allows you to express how you’re feeling in your own words and gives you a larger perspective of the situation and maybe even an idea of what you can do to fight back.

3. Go for a walk and make small talk with people you encounter.

You honestly never know who you will meet down the road. Or stop into a coffee shop and make small talk with the person in front of you. If you’re real nice, maybe they’ll buy you a coffee 😉 No promises there, but if you are willing to break out of your shell just a little bit, you’ll be surprised by how many new and exciting people there are in the world that you have yet to meet!

4. Take a drive. 

Now this one is something I do personally. I haven’t done this since living in Germany because a) I don’t have my own car and b) driving stick around a bunch of aggressive Germans doesn’t make me feel any better. But in Oregon I used to do this quite a bit, I would get in my car, turn some music on, and just blast it as I tried to get myself lost. Fun fact about me: I have an incredible sense of direction. Most of the time, I would end up driving past some one’s house and then call them to see what they were doing. You have a 50/50 chance that someone is home and will want to hang out with you. Do something that just gets you out of the house. That I cannot stress enough.

5. TREAT YO SELF.

Friend, if you are just down in the dumps and are incredibly introverted like I am, get yo butt in a cozy blanket and turn on your favorite movies and grab some of your favorite snacks. That “diet” can wait another week (because we all know we just wait until Monday, anyways). You get yourself some you-time. Or maybe you just want to go shopping. Do it. Put your favorite outfit on and do your hair and make-up if you’re into it. And go grab a Starbucks frappachino with way too much sugar in it and go window shopping (even your wallet won’t allow real shopping). Also, please don’t understand this as shop until your bank account drops. Don’t do that. Just do something nice for yourself!

These are some of my favorite ways to battle feeling lonely. Do you have some tips and tricks? Tell me all about it in the comments 🙂

Until next time,

Sara xoxo

What Vacation Did For Me.

Have you ever felt like all you do is work and then you find that there isn’t just one day that you don’t look forward to going to work, but rather every day? You begin to count down the minutes until you can go home? You stare at your work for at least 5 minutes without doing anything because you just can’t seem to concentrate? You lack creativity? You just start going with the flow with what everyone else does or says, because you can’t come up with any ideas?

Well, that was me the past couple of months. I hit a wall.

Did you know that it is recommended that people actually TAKE a vacation because they WON’T.

I honestly can’t even understand how one would not want to take a vacation.

America is full of workaholics. But you know what happens to you if you don’t take a vacation or any form of a break from work?

It effects your “health, happiness, productivity, the economy, careers, finances AND personal relationships.” (Read more about it here: Business Insider)

AND… “Employers who discourage vacations end up with stressed, unhappy employees…..not taking vacation has been found to correspond to increased chance of heart disease for both men and women.”- Forbes

It has also been said that the ideal length of a vacation is 10 Days.

That is just the science of it all. But it’s true… happier employees truly are better employees.

Ever since my vacation, I have been more invested in my friendships, my marriage, my own personal growth, my job and wanting to enjoy doing it all.

It’s so important to learn personal boundaries and when to recognize that you need to take a vacation.

My personal boundaries:

• I find it difficult to get out of bed to go to work.
• I don’t look forward to leaving the house.
• I don’t look forward to meeting with people.
• I can’t come up with new ideas on my own and need others to tell me what to do.
• I get impatient.

Those are just a few things. Do you know your boundaries? Do you need a vacation soon?

It’s HEALTHY and GOOD for you! What a blessing!

Until next time,

Sara ❤

Tips For Travelling to Amsterdam.

 

Micha and I recently went to Amsterdam, as most of you know… and we had a great time! But there are some things I wish we would have known ahead of time or wish we would have done differently. So I am going to share some tips with you that might help you if you ever choose to go to Amsterdam!

 

1. Stay in an AirBnB!

This was the best decision we made. We were able to stay in De Pijp which is in the central part of Amsterdam, but is also not the city center. We were just a tram ride away from the main parts of town! Staying in an apartment gives you the opportunity to get into the culture. De Pijp was also an awesome place to be because there weren’t any tourists and there were a ton of great local restaurants and bars! Also having an apartment gives you the opportunity to cook your own meals, so you get to save money! AND our host was sooo nice! She left us a bunch of books about things to do in Amsterdam and was always just a text away whenever we had a question or needed something.

2. Do not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES take a car to Amsterdam.

We learned this the hard way. But not as hard as others. Unless you know that where you are staying there is a place to park for free for the whole time. Otherwise… parking on the street costs you 3€ AN HOUR. Parking houses are even more expensive. The only option you then have is to park at a park and ride. But, you have to do your homework. We had to find a park and ride location that was open 24 hours where we could leave our car for the four days we were there. Some locations are only open during the week and not on weekends. Others may be closed due to events. We also tried to find a place that was closest to where we were staying. The one we wanted to park at was already full when we arrived, but we found another one that worked out just as well. Park and ride works out well, we payed 4€ for parking for the four days (1€ a day) and 5€ for two tickets to the city center and back to get our car.

3. Brush up on some info about the street trams.

This is connected to the tip number 2. I was HEAVILY confused about the tram tickets and how they work, especially with park and ride. Basically, the park and ride is outside of the “city center”. When you get into a tram, there is a little machine where you scan your ticket and you “check in”. Once you get into the city center (designated on a park and ride map) at the location you want to get off at, just scan your ticket again and you are then “checked out”. The park and ride is only good for two rides. Once into the city center and once to get back.

For other tickets, 1 hour or 24 hour tickets, you can buy them from the conductor on the train. FYI, they do not accept more than a 20€ bill. We made this mistake and had to get off at the next stop and try to find a store where we could break a 50.

The trams are fairly easy to figure out if you know where you need to go. Most tourist books will tell you which stop you need to get off of for a specific place. Just look at the signs at the stops to see where the train will be going to in that direction (sometimes you will have to cross the street to go in the other direction). When in doubt, ask!

4. Get to the Anne Frank Huis at least 30 minutes before it opens.

And also try to go there on a weekday. We tried to get there at 8:30, but because of tram problems and confusion, we got there an hour later than planned. We had to wait almost 2 hours, but it was also very much worth the wait! However, I know that had we gotten there an hour earlier, we would have saved ourselves a TON of time.

5. Take the city in quarters.

In Amsterdam, there are different areas. For example, “De Pijp”, “Jordaan”, “Western Canaal”, and “Medieval and Red Light District”. There are others, but figure out which districts are most important to you and make a day out of it! Try a new restaurant in each quarter. Check out all of the cool and unique shops! Buying a tourist book will help you plan out a daily itinerary.

6. Try your hardest to not got to a restaurant made for tourists.

We tried a lot of different places that weren’t filled with tourists. The food was better AND cheaper! Don’t miss out on these goodins! But definitely eat the popular Dutch fries. SO GOOD.

7. Go on a canal tour!

These can be expensive, but it is a great option to get a view of the city from a different perspective. You can get through all of the coolest parts of town and just relax and hear about the history of specific things. There are also a variety of companies and tours that they do. The most average tour there is, is one that is about an hour or hour and a half long for 18€. I think it’s worth the money. Now, if you are willing to spend a little bit more money and want to have a romantic getaway with your significant other, there are also dinner tours. These can be quite pricy. But I’m sure the food is good!

8. Pick out some of your favorite museums you must see in your time there.

My must see’s were the Heineken Brewery, Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank Huis. Depending on how much you are into museums, Amsterdam is full of them! Ranging from modern art to a museum about the Red Light District. There is genuinely something for everyone. Micha is not much a museum goer, but the Heineken Brewery was a lot of fun and we got a few free beers out of the deal!

9. Buy yourself some damn good Stroopwaffels. 

Broooo. I don’t know where to begin. These things are so good. You can get them pretty much anywhere in Holland in a supermarket. They are these little round waffels that are stuck together like a cookie with caramel. It is goodness from heaven. I wanted to eat the whole thing at once, but it is so sweet that you can’ have more than two or three at a time. This is just a culinary must.

10. Go during the Tulip festival.

The tulip festival is between March and May and there are tulip farms outside of the city. We would have gone, but those tours can be pricy. However, downtown there are BUNCHES of tulips all throughout the city. Mostly located at the most popular places. They are so pretty and we were so lucky to go in April right in the middle of the festival where the flowers were out and about and everywhere! Love springtime in Amsterdam!

11. Finally, bring a jacket! 

You are on the water so it will be windy and chilly. It can get real cold real quick.

 

Have you been to Amsterdam? Got any tips you would like to add on? Tell me about your experiences! I would love to again sometime soon!

Until next time,

Sara ❤

See Sara Travel: Wellness Hotel- Bad Wildungen

I am really excited to finally start writing bout one of the things I have been wanting to write about for a long time, and that is my travels! Since I got to Germany in September, we haven’t been travelling very much. But we finally went on a 10 day vacation– which was very much needed, btw.

Our first stop was at the Göbels Hotel AquaVita Wellness Hotel in Bad Wildungen in Hessen, Germany.

THE HOTEL.

We arrived at around 2 pm in a small village in the middle of nowhere. The hotel on the outside was fairly average looking. But on the inside it was pretty nice.

The Hotel offers a sauna, 3 large pools (one of which is outside) a beauty lounge (which offers massages and manicures), a hair stylist, a fitness studio and a restaurant.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to book a massage, which we were really looking forward to, because we asked about it too late. Everything was booked up. TIP: if you are ever planning on going to a Wellness hotel, book a massage when you book the room. And try to book as early as possible so you aren’t dumb like we are and wait until you get there to ask about it.

THE ROOM.

We had booked the “deluxe” room, which apparently was the most expensive one they had, but it wasn’t the nicest room they had? That was weird. But it was still comfy. We had a lot of room which was nice and a little balcony with two chairs and a table. The bed was nice and soft and the blankets were warm… maybe a little too warm. But maybe that is just because I get hot really quick unlike most women.

On the bed laid two bathrobes which were as thick as bath towels but weren’t all too soft, but did their job. I am a fan of bath robes, so I was still excited to just have one.

The bathroom was nice. Was large. It also had a bidet, which neither of us used. But, it’s the thought that counts. It has two sinks and a shower/bathtub.

Upon check in, the staff told us that we would get a bottle of champagne delivered to our room. We would just have to call the front desk and they would deliver it to us. That evening we watched the Mummy and called for the bottle, I wasn’t expecting them to bring it into the room. I was in my pj’s and wasn’t exactly expecting company, but it wasn’t thaaat bad.

Overall: It was enough for what we needed. We would have liked a more asthetically pleasing room, but it was still a very comfy evening 🙂

THE POOL. 

But we weren’t there for the room, we were there for the POOL.

The pool area was seriously a dream. It was my favorite part of the whole experience! I could seriously lay on those beds for hours on end. The nice part was, although there were a lot of families, there weren’t that many people at the pool when we were there. I guess everyone else was there for some other reason. But we enjoyed the pool in private. There was also a jaccuzi. It wasn’t hot, but it was warm. Every 2 minutes or so, you had to press the buttons again for the bubbles. One of the pools was outside, which was nice when the sun was out, otherwise it was too cold. The water temp could have been a bit warmer, but it was still nice once you got moving around.

Overall: 10/10. Would go back in a heart beat!

THE FOOD.

The village the hotel was in had only a few restaurants. We decided to just eat at the hotel for dinner, which is fairly regret. There were only a few options. You could either pay 22€ for a dinner buffet (which is actually a pretty good deal to get an appetizer, salad, main course and dessert) or just order of the menu with only a few options. The buffet really didn’t have anything I wanted, so I stuck to the main menu. I just went for the Schnitzel and roasted potatoes, even though the brought me fries on accident. The fries weren’t very good, but everyone has their own preferences. The food was expensive and if I wouldn’t go back.

HOWEVER… part of our stay included the breakfast buffet. It was REAL good. There was an option for everyone. Yoghurt, cereal, fruit, bread, croissants, eggs and bacon, coffee and all kinds of juices. It was breakfast heaven and it cost us nothing. I would return for the breakfast.

FREE TIME.

In between watching TV, taking naps and swimming, we got some ice cream and took a walk in the village and a nearby park. The sun was shining and it was nice 🙂

OVERALL.

I don’t know if I would return for the hotel, unless I went for a massage. I would however go for the day just for the pools. Staying there is nice for one or two nights, but no longer than that. There really isn’t much to do in the town where it’s located. So unless you have yourself booked in the beauty lounge for the whole time and are comfortable with staying in your room for most of the time.

Would love to try out some more Wellness Hotels… have you been to one before? Where do you like to go?

Until next time,

xoxo Sara