so much to say...

well, hello again! I am back from the allgäu region of germany!!! It seems I survived a week and a half w/my boyfriend's band (not that I ever doubted I would). ahh... but there is so much that has happened that i'm dying to put up on here... so it may take several different posts to let my say it all!!!

Lets start though, where I last left off.. I said I was going to go shopping w/a friend of mine before we left for our vacation, and I did. It was a lot of fun. This is the first time that I have gotten to go shopping for myself in a long time. Since I've been here I bought a few things I liked, but it was my big shopping day, and boy, did I go shopping! I now, officially, look more european, and am quite content.... shopping can be a girls best friend.. but just for the record: i didn't spend more than i should have, and i'm not a shopping addict... i just go once or twice a year, and usually go all out when i do. :) anyways, my friend and I had lots of fun, and i'm happy i went with her.

ahh, and then, Thursday 8/11/2005 was my boyfriend's birthday. He loved the videos my parents gave him (a big thanks from him to you guys) and the stuff I gave him. We spent the entire day, from 8 am until 5:00 pm, cooking. We made all the things I said we were going to make and they were all delicious. It was an interesting day, since we were both stressed out, particularly at the end of our cooking time... but we only got a little frustrated at each other, and all was well. :) on the way up to the forest where we had the party, I got our premade punch spilled all over the back of my pants (that sucked), but thankfully was able to change for the party. I think about 40 people showed up to the party, and they all loved the food. They were a little unsure of some of the stuff, especially our Oreo Delight desert, but they were good sports. However, nobody, except one person (who is half american and has had them before) at smores. That was sad.. but more marshmellows for us!!! and the pop.... it is quite entertaining to watch people try the pop that you are used to, when they've never even heard of them. For example, we had to explain to most of the people that there wasn't actually any beer in Root Beer...we finally got home, and got everything completed and cleaned and done by about 2:30 am that night... a long, but incredibly fun day.

then friday, we got up bright and early, finished cleaning, packed all of our stuff, and headed off on the band trip. It was about a five hour car ride to where we were staying, and we had a game cube to play.. so that wasn't so bad. My boyfriend played it the entire time, sometimes w/me and sometimes w/another girl who is in the band and does the technical stuff with him. When I wasn't playing game cube, I read The Davinci Code, which is an incredibly good book for those who haven't read it. I really enjoyed it, and read it most of the time I was there. It makes me wonder about lots of things he talks about, and i am hoping to find time soon to research some of the things he talks about to see if they are actually real.. or maybe real...

we stayed in the mountains (allgaeu is a region of the Alps), in the country.. lots of cows all around. Not the black and white kind, the brown kind, and they all had cow bells around their necks.. so you always heard "ding ding ding." there were also lots of sheep. Anyways, we stayed in a two story building. An old couple lived upstairs, and the bottom part was mostly a place they rented out, with two bedrooms, a living area, a kitchen, a shower, a bathroom and a sink room (literally, that room had two sinks and their water heater, and that's it). We also used a dining room upstairs, and another room for the "practice room" where we also had a concert one night. since there were 11 of us total, four of us stayed in the main place (me, my boyfriend, and two other younger people in the band), five others stayed in another building next door and two stayed in a van which converts into a camper. On the outside of this house, there was a huge clock, which made a "bzzz" noise every minute as the hands moved. it was the butt of many of our jokes (including my boyfriend's best friend attempting to predict its exact buzzing time)...

okay.. well, this is sort of long, and i'm in need of some food, so I'm going to sign off for now, and try to write about the actual trip tomorrow... sorry if i left anyone just hanging... but i'm in desperate need of sustenance.... :) until later!