Big Exciting News

Now, if you're friends with me on Facebook then you might have already heard some news: Spiros and I are moving to LA in October.

I know. What? I know.

After Nicki and Joe's wedding, he flew to LA for a marathon round of interviews, they told him the next day that they wanted him (totally unheard of in any profession, I'm fairly certain), and since then we've been holding our breath and crossing our fingers/toes/arms/legs that the visa application would make it through and blah blah blah IT ALL WORKED OUT.

Seriously, it is insane.

Reasons why it seems meant to be: Ever since I was little I've loved the idea of living in California. Sure it's expensive, but it's so beautiful.  There was a point two years ago when I went to visit a "friend" in LA and really wanted to move there, but I couldn't justify it to myself at the time. Then in January when Spiros came to visit me in NYC, he told me, "I want to get a job in California." At this point he had never been to California. I politely laughed in his face. Then a few months later we found ourselves driving up the Pacific Coast Highway together, loving every minute of it. He even pointed to the sign for the suburb where his office will be saying, "That's where the company is based that my former colleague works for." And now that will be our home. So.freaking.crazy.

But at the same time, once the ball started rolling, we both just sort of assumed it would work out. Before I left for Berlin, I had people ask me what I would do after my trip if there was no definitive plan for Spiros to come to the US. And you know what? I had no idea because I thought it wasn't worth the effort worrying about it. There was a chance it would work out, and that's all the hope we needed.

Sometimes life can just really suck and nothing seems to go right. I've totally been there. I've spent years of my life there. So has Spiros. And then other times life can just be really awesome. And we couldn't be happier that we've hit that sweet spot (for the time being at least, you never know when shit will hit the fan...ah always the realist).

So now we are eagerly and giddily planning for the next few months. (By planning, I mean I have been Pinteresting up a storm, and it's already getting way out of control. But that's why it was invented right?!)

Hania Is For Lovers

Our final stop of Greece: Part I was the port town of Hania. Much like most cities, you drive through the new, crappy part before getting to the beautiful old part. If you ever make it to Hania, please do yourself a favor and find the old part. It's gorgeous.

We stayed in a cute hotel overlooking the water, soaking up the last bit of our holiday. That night we made our way down to the port's edge and sat at a bar enjoying the sunset. And also laughing hysterically whenever somebody got splashed by a covert wave lapping up against the wall. (Extra laughter was reserved for dolled-up, fake-blonde Greek girls and babies. Because we are assholes.)

I promise to post something other than vacation photos soon. Maybe. In the mean time, a few more...

A room with a view.

In full disclosure, we totally almost got splashed during the taking of this photo.

 

 

Because my tourist eye is now one with Pinterest

Looks just like the giant anchor for San Fran I made him pose with!

That's how you write Spiros in Greek!

Half a hotel's charm comes from its lobby.

Crete's Sleepy Dragon Induces Lots Of Naps And Only A Few Freak Outs

After our magical stay in Santorini, Spiros and I took the ferry to Crete. While we were waiting for the boat, we saw this.

I don't know if you know this about me, but I have an obsession with taking pictures of kids on harness leashes. I just think it's about the funniest thing in the world. It started while on my Euro "backpacking" trip with Nicki five years ago, and from now on, anytime either of us see a kid on a leash, we have to send the other a picture. Anyway, that is just to say, IAAB (I am a bitch) and will totally take a picture of you if you're child is on a leash and maybe (probably) post it on the internet. Fair warning.

Moving on. Crete! It is the biggest island or - as I kept saying: The Texas of Greek Islands! - and has quite a different landscape/environment from north to south and east to west. We started out in the central north where we met Spiros' family, then traveled south to Agios Pavlos to stay at the place he'd been before. 

To get there we drove through dry, hilly land full of beautiful, silver-leafed olive trees. Finally we arrived at the edge of the turquoise sea to a picturesque cove, with one rocky side that looks exactly like the head of a dragon. Magical!

The area is a well-known yogi retreat because it has some sort of "special energy from the equator" or something. I will be honest, while it was very beautiful and nice, I was ragingly PMSing (or as I told Spiros "the spirit of the devil has taken over my body and I can't be blamed for my actions"), and after the luxurious Hotel Altana, the 25 Euro-per-night, camp-style accommodations were a bit of a challenge to get used to right away. (But as I remind him on a daily basis, I am super low-maintenance so it's cool! Whatever!)

It was great to socialize with his friend Dimitris, who runs the place with his parents, as well as the other staff and guests. Spiros also brought with him his hang drum (this special drum they only make a few hundred of per year and apparently it is really awesome that he has one, according to my way cooler younger brother). 

Although it was nice spending our nights sitting around chatting and listening to music, the best part was seeing the stars - including the freaking Milky Way - as if we were in a planetarium. Seriously it was unreal. Also unreal was the amount of mosquito bites I got while "enjoying nature" but who cares! 

(Another really fun part of enjoying nature was when Spiros tried to take me to this beautiful beach that involved walking down a fifty foot sand dune made up of scalding hot sand and I freaked the f*ck out - see above re: PMS - and then also when it was so insanely windy that said hot sand whipped against our bathing-suit-clad bodies like a sandblaster. Nature: always keeping us on our toes!)

No, but seriously, all whining aside, it was a really beautiful place full of great people, booze, and gorgeous scenery. Oh, and it was an awesome place to nap. 

Seriously, it looks just like a dragon, right?!

Santorini Is the Prettiest Place On Earth, Fo Realz

You know how sometimes you just have a feeling you're going to love something before you ever experience it for yourself? That is how I felt about Santorini. And I was totally right. It was hands-down the most beautiful place I've ever been.

For starters, the landscape was unbelievable. One side of the island sort of twists around a volcano in the center (the island was created from the lava), and then there are also little islands off on the other side of the volcano. Y'all: it totally looks like Neverland. It is seriously beyond magical, especially when there was a south wind bringing in low-hanging clouds and mist. These pictures suck at doing it justice.


Although some parts of the island are flatter than others, we stayed in the steepest, tippy top village called Imerovigli. It was so high that when we first walked around figuring out which hotel to stay in, I was worried I was going to fall off the face of the earth. Luckily I soon got over that fear and we found the most beautiful little hotel with rooms available. 

(Although Spiros had planned the skeleton of the trip, he insisted on leaving our lodging up in the air until we got there in order to "barter" since it was the off season. Originally we planned to go around to a few places and find the best deal, but it was hot and some of us might have been a tiny bit whiny and then fell in love with the first place we went, and voila we had ourselves a gorgeous room overlooking the volcano.) 

The Altana, an old shipping family's mansion turned into a hotel, was hands-down the most adorable place in the world. Even better was that it was run by twin brothers named Christos and Marios (who I referred to as Mario and Luigi - and OMG Marios had a perfect Mario mustache and wore red, life was great) who went out of there way to make everything as comfortable as possible. They offered great dining recommendations, beach tips, and delicious authentic Greek breakfasts that included veggies from their garden. My heart skips a beat just thinking about it.

Each day of our stay there was perfect. We ate, we beached, we ate, we napped, we snorkled, we ate, we explored, we ate. It was sensory overload to the fullest, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures if you're interested...

Greece: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

There are approximately 1,000,000 pictures from THE GREATEST TRIP EVER to come, but for now here is a quick recap of THE GREATEST TRIP EVER:

THE GOOD:

• Almost everything. Seriously it was amazing, as beautiful as you've heard (or if you're lucky enough to have been, as you've seen). 
• In Satorini everything is white, blue, turquoise. It was my heaven. 
• The food. I've never been a big fan of American Greek food. That is because it sucks compared to real Greek food. Feta? Feta is different, way creamier and less in-yo-face. Yogurt? Greek yogurt is a thousand times better than "Greek yogurt" - less tart, less slimy. Greek salads? I miss them already. 
• Seeing Spiros in his homeland. Beyond adorable. Although we didn't get to meet his immediate family on this trip (we will in two weeks when we go to Athens!), we stopped by to see his great aunt and his mom's cousin. His great aunt cried when she saw him because he looks so much like her brother, his grandpa Spiros (who died before he was born). It was so precious. And - score - even with the massive language barrier, they still called his mom and told her how much they liked me! 
• Learning a little Greek. Obviously the only letters I know are from my previous "Greek life" (kappa, gamma!), but I've mastered a few pleasantries and other random words to feel like a genius! 
• Snorkeling with Spiros. We are good travel buddies, we both like little adventures and get excited about silly things. This was just another fun activity to add to the list.
• Getting to stay at a place in Crete where Spiros had stayed a few times before, hanging out with people from around the world, and enjoying the beautiful place together.
• Crashing a honeymoon!!!! Catching up with Nicki and Joe on our first night (their 8th or so) in Santorini, getting to see each other's beautiful hotel views, and reliving our favorite wedding memories was so damn special!
• Spending a week with the sweetest, most wonderful guy in the world who takes such good care of me, laughs at my dumb jokes, and shows me to all the best places. Seriously, he is the best. 
• Did I mention how beautiful it was?

THE BAD/THE UGLY:

• Greece is a bit of a 2nd world country. I mean that in the nicest way possible. But it also means things are different than I'm used to. Like you can't flush toilet paper in the toilet. You have to throw it in a trashcan. Awkward. 
• I am covered in mosquito bites. I seriously have somewhere between 50 and 100 total. I was going to write 1,000,000 but I want you to know how serious it is. It's horrible. I look like a dog with fleas. Real sexy. 

I'd be really depressed to be back in Berlin if I didn't know we'd be heading back to Greece in two short weeks! (I know, I know, totally crazy, but due to Spiros' work schedule we had to break up our trip. I am not complaining!)

Just Like "Step Mom" Except in German and Without the Cancer

On Thursday, Spiros announced his joint-custody dog Kia was coming to spend the weekend with us. (Sort of a similar situation to my Denver dog friend Merl! Lives with mommy but daddy visitation rights on the weekend.) Anyway, as excited as I was to meet Kia ("Kia is so beautiful, Kia is so smart.") I was still nervous to take care of her all day on Friday while Spiros was at work. Y'all - being a dog step-mom is hard work!

First of all, Kia speaks German. And second, she never uses a leash. I imagined losing her the first second I took her outside. Just like that scene in Step Mom with the little boy, and Julia Roberts can't find him anywhere! That was going to be me! Except shouting in broken German!

But luckily she respected me (it might have helped that I prepared her delicious raw meat/fresh apple-carrot meals for her) and tolerated being on a leash because she knew I was totally uncool. We had a nice day walking in the park, playing fetch (something none of our family dogs have ever "chosen to learn" because they refuse to act like real dogs).

Anyway, now we are best friends and I can't wait for her to come back at the end of June! Awww fraulein Kia, we love you!

I might add the meat was organic. Cough cough spoiled cough cough.

Tom Cruise, Top Gun

"What a beautiful tray for me to rest my head!"

Can you feel the love tonight?

I'm sexy and I know it (Spiros is a total dog-outfit enabler!)

See, my head is so tiny!

I call this one "Dog socks and a dog"

I am not amused.

When is daddy coming home!?!?!?

Exhausted.

Warning: My puppy fever is palpable now that she's gone. 

Berlin, Baby!

Oh Berlin, it's good to be back! A little weird in a "how did this end up happening?" kind of way - considering when I left I had no idea if I'd ever make it back here - but still great.

I arrived on Tuesday, two days before Spiros. Originally we were go be on the same flight, but "one of us has to work" (my mom's favorite thing to say to me and my retired father) so he ended up having to stay in the states for a few more meetings.

In some ways, coming alone provided a better opportunity for me to settle in and get more comfortable than if he were standing there watching me shove things in his closet and take over an entire bathroom. Instead of me awkwardly asking him a million obligatory questions about storage and where to find things, I was able to take matters into my own hands. It kind of felt like when I came to Berlin last August and made myself at home in a strange, furnished apartment. Except instead of weird 90s East German furniture, Spiros has great taste. He's, like, such a real person!

Anyway, it's been such a great almost week here. And tomorrow...off to Greece! Opa!

Life is Beautiful

Their love story has been ten years in the making, my love story with them has been five. I met Nicki and Joe on a random trip around Europe. Nicki and her roommates let The BFF and I sleep on their couch the first few weeks we were in New York (which included an infamous Red Lobster incident). Their happiness has been my happiness, and when I left the city in January, one of the best feelings I had was realizing how everything had come full circle with this amazing group of friends.

This weekend was one of high anticipation, and the beauty and sweetness (and awesome food) surpassed expectations. What made it even better was having Spiros come in town for the celebration (read: jump through massive hoops) and introducing him to some of my favorite friends in the world. Even though there were some brief moments of panic (e.g. having to rent a car last minute, arriving only an hour before the wedding, rain threatening the outdoor ceremony), the whole thing was perfect.

And the best part? My jokes about crashing their honeymoon in Greece are going to come true. (Having a Greek boyfriend comes in handy.) As Nicki would say, "Life is beautiful!!!!"

Perfection.

So full of happiness.

The groom photo-bombing the background

The BFF's fascinator was quite fascinating... bwahah

Roommies.

Ol' Honeymoon Crashers.