Monday Memories: "The Goal is between the Flip Flop and the Backpack"

family fun at the beach!

We are far from the most athletic of clans, but we make up in enthusiasm what we lack in regard for the rules. Sportsmanship is not our strong point. Most games end in all of us collapsing on the sand, out of breath, vigorously contesting which side claimed victory (and frequently, even at the very end of the game, still discussing who is on which team). Some members of the family seem to think you can compensate skill with rigorous debate. I belong in this camp. My motto is:  you can cheat, foul, yell, pull shirts and trip ankles, just as long as you're pulling off an adorable orange blouse while you do it! 

In this photo, my father is failing to catch, my sister is failing to block him, my cousin is failing to care, my mother and aunt are failing to participate and my grandma is just hangin' out in the middle. I may suck at sports, but it must be because an apple does not fall far from the tree. And amen to that, because I wouldn't give up this crazy clan or my genetically predetermined two left feet for anything!
 
Look up at the Sky!
 
Zanna

PS. Hanging out with the same crew at the lake, in a restaurant, and around the pool, way back in the day.

PPS. Another picnic at a California beach!

Monday Memories: Childhood Monopoly Games

Playing monopoly in our pajamas!

I love this old photo of my friend Sam and me playing Monopoly in our PJs. We have been friends since before either of us can remember, and our younger sibling are perfectly age-matched too (well planned, parents). We were so sad when our family moved to Berlin and they stayed in New York City, but every now and then one of us flies over the pond for a visit.  On these occasions, we kids used to play a single monopoly game for four or five days straight. The younger kids dropped out after a couple hours (lightweights), but Sam and I played on and on, each with about equal properties values and no intention to quit. If fact, I distinctly remember him bailing me out with a cash infusion when money got tight on my side of the board. Of course, our parents still had activities and sightseeing scheduled for us, so we always woke up extra early to squeeze in a round before breakfast. Ah, to be a kid again....


Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Sorry for the bad quality of the photo, it's one of those real physical printed ones that you had to pay to get developed way back in the day.

PPS.  Monopoly continues to be one of my favorites...check out my top five games here!

Five Favorites: Ways to Save

Pete's Christmas gift currently graces our bathroom

This week's "five favorites" post stems from our very student-y budget constraints. Many of the things I love (great chocolate, fresh fruits and vegetables, organic meat, and most of all: trips) don't come cheap. Here are some tips Karl and I have gathered on how to make each Euro count!

1. DIY.  This is a "duh" suggestion that I never really took seriously until I started making my own bread (yum!) and realized how much dough we were saving (terrible pun intended). Now we're all about finding ways to add thoughtfulness and save pennies with DIY. We loved making  homemade holiday cards out of scraps and our low-key  Valentine's Day fit right in with this new philosophy.

2. Turn that thermostat down! Last winter, during the coldest week of the year, our heating broke down. We froze for seven days before it got fixed.  After some bitter complaining and several evenings spent exclusively in bed (the only warmish place in the apartment) we actually kind of...got used to it. To our surprise, we just sort of shifted from breakfast in PJs to breakfast in an Anorak. The couple seconds after a shower were hellish, but beyond that, we learned that when one is ensconced in fleece, cold is actually okay. Although we certainly cranked the heating up when it was finally fixed, we tend to keep the apartment about seven degrees colder than before...and now we save several hundred Euro a year, without minding at all!

3.Stay in! At the Sophie/Pete/Karl/Zanna house, we LOVE games. We've found an evening of poker or a snuggly movie night on the sofa is just as awesome as a fancy dinner out--for a fraction of the price!

4. Meatless Mondays...and Tuesdays...and Wednesdays.  My roommate Sophie is a vegetarian, and though the rest of us identify as carnivores, we only eat meat about once or twice a week. I tend to insist on organic, local, and free-range (for various ethical and health-related reasons) and that's about as expensive as it gets! So we have some morally righteous meat every now and then and enjoy eggs and other protein-laden, purse-friendly alternatives the rest of the week.

5. Car sharing.  It took me a while to warm up to this one, but Karl insisted, and now we use it for every car trip and have never looked back. When we travel as a couple, there are two empty seats in the back and it can cover the entire cost of gas to rent those out! We use the two most popular sites here in Germany, Mitfahrgelegenheit and Bla Bla Car, but we learned during our time in France and Switzerland that there are equivalent sites for most European countries. We're heading down south for some skiing this weekend, and the rides we have lined up will reimburse the whole car trip!

In addition to these tips, we also have a couple general rules, such as: no credit card debt, no bottled water, no magazine subscriptions, no take-out, no ATM-stops at non-affiliated banks, no brand-name products, ect.

One thing we NEVER agree on is handymen. Karl always thinks he can fix it, whatever "it" is, and I would rather just call an expert and not make it worse. We're still hashing that one out!

What about you? What are you favorite ways to save pennies and what's worth a splurge?

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna
 

PS. Very first "Five Favorites" here!

Five Favorites: Parlour Games

"Set": one of my favorite games!

Yesterday, we spontaneously invited a couple friends over for dinner and ended up having a long and lovely evening with one of my all-time-favorite games: Set!  Playing together has such an invigorating effect on an evening...suddenly there is anticipatory tension in the air, regularly released by raucous laughter. The competitive juices start flowing and it's past midnight in the blink of an eye! I loved playing lots of board and car games with my family as a kid, and I'm so happy to continuing the tradition!

Here are my top five:

1. Set. Easy to set up, easy to learn, and easy to play with any number of players for any length of time.  This is the most versatile and fun game I've encountered in a long time. Its also great brain-training and far more aesthetically pleasing than most games I know (I'm looking at you, Candyland).

2. Apples to Apples. This is great for word-nerds like me! The only disadvantage is that all players must be native or almost-native speakers, which limits its use in our circle. This has always been one of my family's favorites, though. My sister Zelda even snuck our set away when she moved to Rotterdam, depriving us of one of our favorite games during the holiday season. I'm going to have to visit her soon to steal it back!

3. Monopoly. An oldie but goldie. I am incredibly bad at this game despite extensive strategizing. I can, however, hold on to cash for more than five minutes and balance a checkbook. Zelda almost always pulls off a win on the board but maxes out her account every month. Interesting, no?

4. Taboo. I love this because of the hilarious associations people have with random words. The best soliloquy yet has been an attempt by my dear friend Andrew to explain "Body Odor" by invoking Abe Lincoln (?!). Needless to say, nobody guessed it, but that might have been because we were all on the floor in stitches.

5. Charades. This is probably the game we play most often. It's super simple and best of all free! Just divide into two teams, grab a pen and paper, and start thinking of clues (the harder the better!). Things can get a bit racy if it's an all-adult game but lets be honest, that just adds to the fun. Hardest so far have been: 'infinity', 'Meryl Streep', and 'civil rights'.

What are some of your favorite games? I'd love some more recommendations!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Karl loooooves Settlers of Catan, but I think its way to complicated!

PPS. More five favorites here and here and here.