The Adventures of a German Girl

After a long 15 hour flight my colleague and I arrived last night in Dubai and checked into the beautiful JW Marriott Hotel. Not being able to sleep on the plane is always a pain for me and the 8 hour time difference comes on top of it. Exhausting. For some reason though, I was somewhat wide awake after we had one drink at the pool bar. It is HOT and very humid, even at night. I lay awake most of the night, reading a book and fell asleep at 7am, when my alarm came on 15 minutes later. I don't have to mention - I'm exhausted. We went to the Dubai World Trade Center in the morning and met all of our international colleagues, checked on our US Pavilion structure and orders and left mid afternoon.   I badly needed a nap. So for an hour I was passed out with the wildest dreams. That always happens to me when I take naps. It is the best sleep I ever have.   We booked a Jeep safari tour in the desert and were picked up late afternoon.   Wh...

I love rustic - old and cheap, or even better free. I scored some pallets the other day and was the happiest girl in the world.  What's trash to most, is the biggest treasure in my eyes.   When I researched pricing on beds/headboards to furnish our cabin I came to the realization that with seven beds needed, I have to come up with something even cheaper than cheap.   I just ordered all of our mattresses and bed frames from a big department/grocery store on their memorial day sale event and got those delivered this past Thursday.   It took about an hour to assemble all three frames, the mattresses were in there original shape in just a couple hours after being rolled up and air tight. All in all pretty easy and somewhat affordable.   I sewed pillows and shortened curtains for the two bunk beds downstairs.     I love that we were able to use the electrical ladder for the beds. ...

THE BIG DAY HAS FINALLY ARRIVED   We closed on our cabin last Friday - and Good Friday has become another meaning.   Over this cabin, I had sleepless nights, my hair became grey and we were on a roller coaster every single day.   How it all begun. We were thinking of buying a cabin in the mountains for a nice weekend getaway option, where we could take our two doggies with us. The beach always sounds fun but its an at least 5 hour drive and most places don't allow dogs. The Blue Ridge area is about 2 hours away from us and has so many things to offer. Hiking trails, water falls, a river and a lake a very cute downtown, lots of festivals and would be perfect for the four of us to spend quality time together.    We drove up there one Saturday and with our agent looked at about 10 cabins. We were exhausted but narrowed down our search. I fell in love with the last one we've seen. It is a 20minute ri...