Appreciate the Beauty

I have always loved time-lapse photography and stop-action films. This little piece has some amazing landscapes and even some shots of Prague. What a stunning and diverse world God has made!


Stomacher - Untitled/Dark Divider from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Czech Film Festival (in my living room)

I paid my outstanding $8 in fees to the library and reserved as many Czech films that I could find. I mean, if I'm moving to the CR, I might as well try to understand its culture. (I have yet to start learning the language) And so I've read Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I even had a college professor burn me copies of Czech music from her collection. (Which might I add is a bizarre mix of folk, German-sounding, highly outdated bar music) And now I'm moving on to movies.

1. I Served the King of England

2. The Shop on Main Street

3. Closely Watched Trains

4. Kolya 

Enchanting

I'd like to eat at this table!

One foggy evening in the forest.

Happy daydreaming everyone!

Greenweddingshoes.com

No one's home! Let's party!

So, I'm house-sitting this week. Just another odd job to help save money for Prague. I've got nothing else to do, so I decided to make some yummy cupcakes with my very "former-foreign" friend, Nutella.

Delightful little cupcakes

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted ap flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F.

Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes.

Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don't worry if the batter doesn't look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter.

They should be 3/4 full, if you're not using a scoop.

Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella.

Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12.

From http://www.thebakerwhocooks.com/

Some things just don't pack well..

As you all probably already know, I'm off to Prague on September 8th for a somewhat indefinite stay. I have been thinking lately what I want to take with me. I'm only allowed about 120lbs. of luggage; my life will actually weigh less than I do! Wow, now that's going to take a lot of thinking about. Some things I just won't be able to take. I don't consider myself a pack-rat, but I like to surround myself with special items, things that have a history before they come to me.

my $5 find, a colorful candelabra.

My grandfather found this lantern somewhere
while he was in the Navy in the 30s.
It is now my inheritance.

$12 vintage lamp.
$10 exotic blue bowl.
Prague coasters from a garage sale.
3 suitcases I used to use as luggage,
now they are a side table.

Summer Reading

I am currently reading a splendid book by author, Paullina Simons. Tatiana and Alexander is the sequel to The Bronze Horseman, which I read twice, cover to cover, back in March. The story is epic; filled with war and loss and love and secrets and betrayals. All that a good summer (or spring) read should be.

I just bought the book today and will have it finished by the end of this week. It's that good. 500+ pages of a story belonging to a forgotten era (1930s-1940s) and a forgotten country (the former USSR).

It may be blasphemous to say, but Tatiana and Alexander beat Bella and Edward, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, and perhaps even Heathcliff and Catherine.

Dressed

I was recently told by an old New Englander that her grandmother used to come home from church and stay in her "Sunday Best" all day, even while tending to her garden. Keeping Sunday holy is something we don't practice anymore as a generation. Yet, there are those still out there that keep this day sacred.

So go on, wear your dress all day. Do things a little bit fancy. Keep Sunday special from all the rest.

Skraenten

Timshel

Overgrown Garden

steps into the Unknown

Postsecret

This picture reminds me to look out a far from a distance and yet to keep an eye for detail.

Life is unpredictable.

That's what makes it beautiful.

A Way to Start This Thing..

I have been kind of avoiding the first post. I don't leave for Praha until September 8th and the preparations are never-ending. In fact, for a while I was even wondering if I would ever get over there in the first place. It's a very large step I am taking into the unknown. I will be leaving security. Family. Convenience. English. Routines. Habits. my car. Friends. And yet, these things are all great, but at times all I want to do is set out and free myself, do something out of the ordinary.

I think moving to Prague is just what I need.

Moving away. Saying good-bye. For a while at least.

The economy in Florida is not the best, especially the rural area I'm from. On FOX News I heard a man say that my generation will have a hard time with the job market, possibly even becoming bitter towards it in the future as younger generations will find jobs easily and older generations will hold onto their jobs with force. And yet, these circumstances may free us to let go and live, to move somewhere we wouldn't otherwise go, to do something to help out, to make a difference in a person's life, or in a town, or in a school, or in a country.

I am learning, slowly, that life is what we make of it. Nothing can hold a negative power over us if we do something positive. So, instead of staying in the states and moving into a career immediately, I am going to fulfil some lifelong dreams.

1. Move abroad
2. Teach English in a foreign setting
3. Volunteer and work with an International Church
4. Travel through Eastern Europe
5. Live in an apartment above a bookstore or coffeeshop OR on a houseboat on the Vltava