Cinderella Never Had To Unpack

We’re moving!?!

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the story of Cinderella. However, here’s a quick recap…scullery maid who is treated like garbage by her stepmother meets, falls in love with, and immediately marries Prince Charming. The 1950s Disney movie ends with Cinderella and Charming riding away in a horse-drawn carriage with the storybook closing and the last page reads “…and they lived happily ever after.” For the sake of this post, I am going to ignore the fact that Cinderella ran around town in a pair of high-heeled glass slippers and had very little to actually pack then move into the castle.

Well, my story is nothing like that of Cinderella’s. The only parallel is that I too met, fell in love with, and married my own version of Prince Charming. He is smart, handsome, funny, and above all else an amazing father and provider. So, when this amazing man got the opportunity to work in Germany, we packed up our things and moved! Unfortunately, unlike Cinderella…we came with a ton of cr@p, er, stuff and I definitely didn’t run around in glass slippers.

Packing up

All of our belongings were packed up on October 3, 2018. Lots of movers arrived at our condo in Chicago and packed everything…literally everything (yep, including the almost empty bottles of shampoo and wet outdoor rug). I was specifically instructed to create two piles for packing. One, the smaller one, would be everything we needed for daily life, also known as “Air Shipment.” The second, the larger one, is everything else, also known as “Sea Shipment.” The air shipment was to take one to two weeks to make it to Germany while the sea shipment was to take six to eight weeks. For us, those instructions meant pack everything the baby needed in the air shipment and everything else in the sea shipment. Knowing we would be moving into a fully furnished apartment and that none of our appliances would work meant that we also needed a third packing option, also known as the “Moving to My Mom’s” shipment. (Sorry mom, it was a lot of stuff…and thank you).

Jump forward a few weeks…we moved out of the hotel and into our German apartment on the European 2nd floor, the American 3rd floor (aka 43 stairs). We also had our meeting with the city to get our resident cards. While we didn’t walk out of the immigration office with resident cards in hand, we did walk out with a paper stating that our resident cards were coming. Our official cards would be coming through Deutsche Post in a few weeks. Everything was going well, right? Wrong! Let me be clear, the rest of the world thinks Germany is very efficient. They are not. Even with the paper promising our resident cards, NO ONE could move the rest of the process along. Everything we needed was at a standstill because we didn’t have the official plastic card. Ugh!

Things that can happen after receiving the physical residency card:

  • air shipment can be processed and arrive
  • sea shipment can be processed and arrive
  • the process of leasing or buying a car can begin

Yeah, you read that correctly. The air shipment, remember…one to two weeks until arrival from the packing date, couldn’t be processed or sent until we had the official plastic resident card. So, everything we needed for baby didn’t leave the US until early November. However, the sea shipment was already on its way. Let’s just say we made many trips to IKEA to purchase things like a play mat and high chair so I could safely set Carson down every once in awhile.

Thank you IKEA! Safe space for Carson to play/be set down.

Fast forward, again, to November 26th, the week of Thanksgiving. We got word that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING had arrived in Germany. All items had been processed and would be delivered bright and early Monday morning (if you are counting, that was eight weeks without our things). It was also the week that we were heading to Paris to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, see previous post. To say I was stressed doesn’t even begin to cover the wave of emotions I felt.

Unpacking…the beginning

Monday morning arrived and so did the truck, all of our things, and about 5 German men to unpack everything with only one speaking a little English. 4 of the 5 moving men worked tirelessly to carry up and unpack our boxes. The other one requested a fresh pot of coffee for himself while he watched the others work. (I never did get the coffee mug back…) The men had a system in place for unpacking the boxes…carry the box upstairs, unpack the box onto any available surface, remove the box. Unfortunately for us, they brought up the empty furniture, like the dressers AFTER they had unpacked everything onto all available surfaces. Again with the efficiency thing, not sure why they wouldn’t just bring the furniture up first, then unpack the boxes into the empty furniture…but then again what do I know? I don’t own, run or work for a moving company. The absolute last thing the moving men unpacked was the air shipment…you know, the one with all the baby items that was supposed to have arrived within 1-2 weeks of us moving to Germany. Two days later, we headed to Paris only to return to the mess a week later.

Unpacking hell…I still get stressed out looking at these pictures.

After we returned from Paris it took about 2 weeks to get all of the items sorted and put away. Some items that were packed we no longer needed and we had to find storage for them. It took another couple of months for me to organize, rearrange, and toss items for our apartment to start feeling like a home.

We have lived in Germany for over a year now. All of our things were delivered and unpacked a year ago and I am still salty about the whole thing. Needless to say, I now know what NOT to do when we move back to the states or should we make another international move.

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Danke!

When the holidays roll around, Jeff and I love spending time with our family. Usually we are in LA for Thanksgiving and DC for Christmas. For the past two years, we felt that flying to the states for Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas would be too taxing, especially on Carson. She is a great little traveler but the 3 day jet lag is no fun. Luckily for us, we haven’t had to spend Thanksgiving alone. Last year our LA family met us in Paris. This year our expat family gathered in the Eifel region of Germany.

2018: Paris, France

Grimm Family at the Eiffel Tower

Paris is a 5 hour drive from where we are living in Germany. Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, Jeff took a few days off from work and we headed to Paris to meet up with our LA family. In total we had 7 adults and 1 baby. We rented a beautiful 4 bedroom Air BnB near the place de la republique, complete with a full kitchen so we could prepare a somewhat proper Thanksgiving dinner. Days were spent exploring the city and nights were spent drinking too much wine and catching up.

Marche Des Enfants Rouges & a Croque Madame
Exploring Paris!

At that point in time, we had been living in Germany for two months and while I wasn’t completely homesick, I was definitely missing American TV…or anything in English. On Thanksgiving day the crew headed out to gather ingredients for dinner while Carson and I enjoyed couch time and American Netflix (yes, there is a difference in what is offered on Netflix dependent on the country). I was also stressed out because all of our belongings had been delivered to Germany the day before we left on this adventure and our new home was a complete disaster, more on that in another post. Thankfully, I was able to relax and enjoy some quiet time. Turkeys were unavailable at such late notice as they aren’t a staple in France, but we were able to scrounge up a whole chicken, herbs and fresh veggies for our feast.

LA Family & our Thanksgiving Feast

2019: Schleiden, Germany

This year for Thanksgiving, we celebrated with our expatriate crew: 31 adults, 1 teenager, 3 toddlers, & 2 dogs or 20 Americans, 5 Australians, 3 Germans, 3 Frenchmen, 2 Canadians, 1 Brit and 1 Egyptian. Two fearless leaders took charge and found an entire hotel for rent on Air BnB in the small town of Schleiden. Seriously, it was just our crew taking over this hotel that was complete with industrial kitchen, large dining room and bar area. Instead of taking off time from work and celebrating on Thursday (actual Thanksgiving), we all decided it was best to wait until the weekend. Days were spent exploring the outdoors on hikes and going to Weihnachtsmarkts (Christmas Markets). Nights were spent playing board games and watching American college football.

20 weeks pregnant with non-alcoholic wine & Chex Mix and play time.

Not only is it pretty cool that our group gets along so well but that everyone did their part when it came to the Thanksgiving feast. Whether they made one of the 3 turkeys, prepared a side dish like green bean casserole, potatoes or stuffing, baked pies, decorated tables, or brought snacks for when we weren’t feasting…we all did our part.

Industrial kitchen food prep.
Food prep, turkey time & waiting on the feast!
Buffet style feast & dessert table (bad pic).

I’m looking forward to see what’s in store for Thanksgiving 2020.

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‘Tis the Shopping Season

‘Tis the season for some online shopping!

Hello and happy Monday…Cyber Monday, that is! In case you didn’t shop ’til you dropped on Black Friday, I have a few small businesses to recommend to you. I believe in each of these businesses and know that you’ll be purchasing quality items.

  • Iron Fox Clothing-Clothing for strong women who are looking for a fashionable, flattering, comfortable fit while participating in life’s everyday activities. Kristi, a mom of two boys and avid crossfitter, saw the need for a clothing retailer to provide clothes for, well, women like her. She found it difficult to find clothing that was flattering yet flexed with her ever changing muscular body so…she founded Iron Fox, a company that does just that. Seriously, there is something on this site for every woman! My favorite part about Iron Fox is that not only is Kristi one of the top models on her site but all of the models are real women wearing the clothes. To get the best deals and stay up-to-date on Kristi’s latest finds, join the Iron Fox Clothing Group VIPs Facebook group.
Iron Fox Clothing
  • Well Made-STiicks are magnetic poster frames that are made out of solid wood and magnets. They make framing your works of art effortless and elegant. Trust me, we have quite a few STiicks around the house showcasing some of our favorite prints. But Well Made is more than just STiicks, they are Rackless (floating magnetic key shelf), Pinch (mini magnetic frame), Visible Vinyl (minimal artwork/record vinyl ledge), and custom orders. On any given weekend in the summer, you can find Brandon (& his wife Simone) at the neighborhood street festivals in Chicago working the Well Made booth. Brandon is an extremely talented, hard-working, detailed designer who has been working on his passion, Well Made, since 2013. You may have seen his STiicks at the Guggenheim, Smithsonian, Museum of Contemporary Art or Target.
Well Made
  • Beyond The Paint-Do you love having your nails done but hate waiting for the paint to dry or paying salon prices? I do. Jamie, a Color Street Independent Stylist, “offers 100% REAL nail polish strips in a variety of nail colors and nail art designs. Color Street is actual nail polish strips, NOT STICKERS, that apply to your nail in seconds and last up to 2 weeks. No need for a base coat, top coat, 3 layers of polish! No smudging, no mess, just apply and you’re done!” At first I was a non-believer too. Join Jamie’s Beyond The Paint With Jamie Facebook group and request some sample nails.
Beyond the Paint, Color Street
  • H2Joe-Is a 2-in 1-coffee & water bottle! This one bottle carries both your hot & cold liquids and allows you to drink BOTH from the same lid. While still in the pre-order phase (so you wont get it by Christmas), the H2Joe team is working to perfect its design. Be on the lookout for your H2Joe in Q1 of 2020! Join the H2Joe Bottle Facebook group for updates on this awesome product!
H2Joe

This blog post is not an ad. Each of these businesses are owned and operated by my friends. I believe in their products and wanted to share them with you.

Merry Blogmas

Carson fireside at a cafe in Vienna.

Hello! Wow, it’s been awhile…like, a long while. What happened? Life. Life happened, which is why I have decided I will partake in Blogmas!

What is Blogmas? Well, it’s Vlogmas but for bloggers or aspiring bloggers (aka me). Everyday in December until Christmas (Dec 25th), I will be adding a post to Grimms Family Tales. Let’s be honest, this is going to be quite the challenge for me. I’m clearly out of the habit of writing and with a toddler and the exhaustion of pregnancy posting 25 blogs in a row is going to be nearly impossible…but I’m sure going to try!

Setting all of the excuses aside, I am actually quite excited to jump right in to help you get to know our little family and the adventures we’ve been on while living the expatriate life in Germany.