Christmas lights

And here are the Christmas lights that go with the rest of the decoration.

Christmas time is here

After successfully completing "Operation Cookie" (Check!), we decorated our house last night. Lots of lights, mostly.

 
 

New Bathroom - take two

Here are some pics of the newly painted lower bathroom. Love the new color!

I love Thanksgiving!

What a great day it has been. After sleeping in (well, Jan did) and a nice breakfast I began painting our second bathroom. Unfortunately we didn't have enough of the paint left, but at least I managed to cover all the dark paint with a thin layer of the new kiwi splash. I'm looking forward to seeing the final result (pictures will be posted)!

Jan stirring the chocolate

Dinner's ready... in 6 hours.

In the mean time, our slow cooker did all the work for tonight's dinner while we were busy baking goodies for Christmas. This year, we went for Vanillekipferl, Chocolate-Orange Cookies, Sugar Cookies, and Nussecken. We might add some truffles later (they only last about a week in the fridge).

New piano and new bathroom color

This year, Jan and I decided to get a piano for Christmas. After some serious research we picked the Yamaha YDP 140 and we were not disappointed. It plays and looks GREAT. Although my fingers are not as quick as they once were, I am having a blast, and Jan is also getting better and better!

Yesterday morning, after going to the market for the last time this year (sniff 

:( ), we went to Lowes and bought some new paint for the guest bathroom. Instead of the light-brown, it is now a light-blue with a touch of green (kiwi splash - sounds yummy, eh?). 

Awwwwww!

Ready for some serious cuteness?

A tight fit, but they made it work! I guess it was a bit chilly in the house...

Elk Mountain, Oregon

Saturday was gorgeous! Crisp air, blue sky - the picture-perfect Fall. So we headed to Tillamook Forest, about an hour to the northwest from us, and hiked Elk Mountain (elevation 2800 feet). 

The ascend was pretty brutal (and that although we were just carrying a light backpack), but the view was worth it.

This was not yet at the top (not even close!), but the view was quite breathtaking already.  

 At the top we met two women (one from Chile, one from Switzerland) - perfect timing to get a nice picture of the both of us at the peak. By the way, those were the only human beings we met near the mountain (we met two more (and their dog) when we were almost back at the parking lot). That's it. Four. Others. Wow... 

The descend had challenging parts as well (rock climbing anyone?), but with a light pack it was no problem. I wouldn't want to climb that part with a heavy pack, though!

And of course: There had to be waterfalls (although this one is still a baby!).