Achims best friend Simon came to visit a couple months ago. It was amazing, Simon is one of us.

He got me excited about life, remembering dreams, drinking good wine, enjoying good food together. Achim and Simon have lots of big plans together! Simon also knows how to have a good time!

Simon was teaching Achim about romance, we will see if it stuck.

Urs came to visit!!

My brother-in-law came to visit (its fun to say that, brother in law.) His name is Urs. He brought me dark chocolate w/ whole almonds from Switzerland. Thank you Nicole (his girlfriend, so thoughtful.)

Urs is one of the nicest guys on the planet, peaceful, smart, funny, and an Oberhaensli. What more could a girl ask for.

Urs said this to Achim and I,"You both go together well because you do not fit in a box." Well said.

Thanks for the visit, it meant the world to us!!

BOB came to visit!

Bob is my biological father. We look a lot alike!! Its really crazy to grow up your whole life looking like your Mom, until you meet your dad. Its also amazing what a role genetics plays in life, we hold our fork the same way, think the same way, and we both like wine. None of these behaviors did I learn from him, they were just written in the DNA. (p.s. This pic was taken at 6am, but hey atleast you get the look alike part!)

The Living Room: Before and After

The Living Room in the beginning

The Living Room Until A Few Weeks Ago.

The Living Room Now!!

We are starting to feel the progress!! Its really starting to feel like home!

Friends in the backyard!!

Casa Oberhänsli has its first guests!!!

Last month we had our first set of guests at our home. Pat (friend that we met in Thailand from Canada) and his lovely girlfriend Denise! It was so much fun to get to share our home and our beach with wonderful friends. They had just been in Costa Rica and arranged their flight home to come through Florida to pay us a visit.

I knew I loved Denise when the first thing she said when they arrived in our home was,"I would just love to eat some vegetables, in Costa Rica their were not a lot of vegetables and I need vegetables."

I often find that when traveling depending on what part of the world you are in it is hard to find vegetables. So in Oberhänsli fashion we enjoyed good food and drink, and lots of beach time!!

Beach side at Casa Oberhansli: Pat and Denise

I got Married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Party!!

Yep!! I think its the craziest thing I have ever heard come out of my mouth, but its true and its awesome!! Achim and I were engaged for approximately 12 hours. The plan was to go down to the clerk of courts and get the paperwork together to "eventually" get married.

When we got there after going through the metal detectors and the woman running her wand over me and saying, "whoop, i can tell you don't have an underwire on." Yikes I was violated by the metal detector lady.

Then we walk up to the counter, the woman very abruptly said, "Well what day are you getting married?"

Achim and I replied: ahhhh, duhhh, ahhh, we dont know?

The Lady: WHat do you mean you dont know!!

Achim and I: Ahhhh..... duhhh.... we dont know.

The Lady: Well you can do it today.

Achim: Ok, we do it today.

Me: (Staring blankly at him.) Thinking to myself, what the heck no beach no nothing.

The Lady: Ok, well the go sit down and I will be with you.

Me: (telling Achim) Honey do you realize we are actually getting married in a few minutes.

Achim: Really. Oh. I thought we were just signing some papers.

Me: Nope, this blonde lady is about to marry us.

Achim: Oops.

The lady comes over grabs us takes us outside of the court house by the smoking section and a large potted plant. Tells us both in the middle of it that she is sorry but she cant pronounce either of our names. approx. 20 seconds later we were married.

It was rather weird and anti-climactic but turned out to be a good day with a really good spur of the moment party!!

Achim and I will be having our official wedding in Feb. or March. We will keep you posted.

Love, Mrs. Oberhaensli!!

This is at our party, lots of people magically showed up on very little notice, minutes and for some hours!!

The exact moment, The Lady is taking our pic, notice the potted plants and parking lot!

The House Update!! 3 Months after its purchase!

So this is the house so far. Pictures really dont do it justice. Achim has worked hundreds and hundreds of hours on this and he is making wonderful progress. So far all 3 bedrooms are 95% complete, many trees that were not native have been uprooted, Achim has seen about 6 snakes (me zero), we have a stove and a dishwasher, working air con., and plumbing! Woohoo!!!


I am very amused by closets at this point in my life. We did not have any for a couple months so now really love them!!

Looks like I am trying really hard to figure things out. This is the living room as of now!!

Yipee! I have a closet now!!

This is what the master bedroom is looking like now. It used to be a horrible dirty purple room.

Who ever said Lowes is not the most fun place in the world. (This is where Achim and I spend many romantic Saturday evenings, all in the name of the house.)

Uprooting a giant tree with his bare hands and an axe!! Wow!

The Front Door!

The New Door

The Old Door

This is how most of my stories will start out. ACHIM and I were at LOWES. I am spending a lot of time there lately. We needed a door. There is a lot that the front door tells about a house. I knew that the door was very energetically important. So Achim and I were trying to decide on the perfect one and in the cheapest price range! I said, "honey, can I dial a life line." He said sure, I knew he was thinking oh god here she goes again.

So I called my mom, she has really been in to Feng Shui lately, she said you need a solid door, and the correct color, and started rambling on. So I hung up and was more confused, b/c the door I liked was not solid.

So then I said, "honey can I dial one more life line. So I called Ada, the spiritual healer/ real estate agent. SHe said for re sale the door needed to be inviting, and to visualize myself in front of the house and ask the house what it wanted. I thought to myself ok that sounds good and hung up.

Achim and I are standing in the door aisle at Lowes visualizing and about to pick out the door, when the manager comes and asks us if we would like to purchase this door that had a broken piece (that no one would ever see) for $75. We looked and said ok. Then Achim said, $50. Someone then said no.

Then he said it again, and the guy said ok! Take it. So we ended up with the perfect door. Usually it sells for around $400 and we got it for $50!!

The kitchen?

Kitchen? Currently we do not have an official kitchen because we ripped it out! We have a grill, a very lovely one and an electric skillet! Stay tuned for the plumbing update!

RULES AND REGULATIONS!!

There are lots of different rules associated with owning and fixing a house in America! Judging from Achims frustrations with the rules, they must not have rules like this in Switzerland.

Our house needs new windows everywhere, and there are about 16 windows in this house. We figured out that we need a permit. First I call an office in a larger city near by, the woman tells me to come down to her office. I start thinking about it and think that is too far to drive. So I start searching through the phone book. There is a closer place to go.

We drive to the Satellite beach city hall, they give us all the rules that we have to follow. We go to Lowes, the home improvement store, find all the proper windows that fit the specs. The manager makes us copies of the papers we need.

We bring back the info. to the city hall and they say,"oh you live in that neighborhood, that is out of our jurisdiction."

We call Viera the place that governs our neighborhood, its 45 minutes away. They tell us that they have different rules and the windows have to be even stronger. (more expensive and more of a pain) Achim drives to Viera and they tell him that he needs a Deed for the house and the homeowner present (thats me).

I call Claire, the woman that closed with us on the house. She tells me she sent the Deed out 2 weeks ago. I said it never arrived, she said, Hmmmm....to bad. So she send me a copy via fax, but lets me know the original was the one she sent, so there is no longer an original copy.

Achim and I "stand up" at 6am so we can get the permit before I go to work. The woman takes our paperwork and says go eat Breakfast and come back in an hour.

We go have breakfast. Walk into the permiting office, and the woman looks at us and says"You are going to hate me." She then explains that the computer systems went down and we will have to come back again in 2 hours.

But I had to go to work. After I got off work we rushed back and now we finally have our permits!! Yipeee!!

Achim was installing a window by himself, and stepped on a large black snake. Thus causing a chain reaction and the window fell out and broke. Luckily the girl at Lowes took it back with a smile.

We have to move in, in 2 weeks!

In the title office signing 1,000 papers to own this house. The woman asked me," are you both buying the house." I said, No, I am, he is just my carpenter." (and everything else)

Phase 1: The Clean Up Process!! 1.5 weeks into we have filled up 2 giant dumpsters and tons of trash by the side of the road!!

The Back of the Florida Room!! Looking good!

Palm Trees in the back yard!! They are gorgeous!!

The front porch!!

The Shed!

The Master Bath!! Fit for a King!!

The Guest Bathroom. The neighbors say the toilet hasnt worked in 2 years!! The people were going to the side of the toilet, hence the pile of rags.

The Garage

A Closer look of the Florida Room!!

Kitchen.

This is the living room and Florida Room!!

Here she is, the diamond in the rough!! Day 1

One week into the house.

I am the proud owner of the ugliest house on the block!! We have had the house exactly one week and Achim has filled two giant dumpsters with stuff that was inside the house. He has completely torn out the kitchen, removed all doors, thrown away countless appliances, pieces of furniture, rotten things, and most lovely of all, 2 toilets that were filled to the brim with crap (literally).

He is a saint. We have to move into the house in one month. SO the plan is to work hard to get it to a livable quality. Which for Achim and I is two different things!!

I PROMISE, the pictures will be up soon.

NEVER GIVE UP!!

Achim and I had a dream that started festering about a year ago. What could we do together, putting our heads together we decided that we wanted to buy an ugly ugly ugly house.

It started swirling around our minds in Switzerland exactly one year ago. We made a visual display and researched and kept our dream alive, telling everyone and everything about our dream to own the ugliest house on the street, and turn it into CASH money for us to continue to build our dreams.

We have been through it all!! Bankers choking on their coffee when i tell them my non existent work history and even sketchy rental history. However ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

We did not care we kept trying. By accident I ran into a friend from second grade whos brother does real estate. In passing at a wedding I said hey I want an ugly house. Four days later he calls me and shows us the beast.

After the loan falling through and then being ok, trying to get it insured. Finding out that I need to wire money from a bank that is another state 3,000 miles away and you have to be there in person. In the begining of the process I would get flustered and emotional but now I know I have a lot of people that want their paychecks, and it all depends on me and my house. Cross your fingers!! We are supposed to be closing on Friday.

I will keep you posted!

TIME

Swirling around in the "life." The life where everyday at my new job, a weight loss clinic. I hear people tell me they don't have time to drink 8 oz. of liquid in the morning. They have no time to pull their car over to a park, and take 10 minutes to eat their chicken and salad. But they do have time to go to Mickey D's for a number three. Often times I find myself wanting to yell at them and say "this is your life, do you hear what you are saying?

What do you have time for? Whats important? Unlike most people I find myself not having time for work, or not having time for negative people, or not having time to watch TV. But I am very interested in having time for lots of food, beverage, fun, friends, and Love!

My Fascination!

Over the last couple of years I have really noticed that science is proving a lot that we have known intuitively for thousands of years. Recently I read a study that was done regarding breast cancer. It showed that they can trace back an incident that happened approx. 15 months before the person was diagnosed with cancer, something which caused the person a great deal of anger. In science we are learning more and more about energetics and how this affects our health. One of the most poisonous things in our lives is stress which is energetically living at a lower vibration.

This is truly my favorite topic to study, learn about and apply in my personal life. In my lifetime I have been blessed to come in contact with different healers and their modalities. Some modalities in which I got to learn myself and use on others.

Some of these amazing healing modalities that I have been in contact with are Chiropractic care,Reiki, Pranic healing, Acupuncture and Chinese herbs, Young Living Essential Oils, Massage therapy, Personal fitness training,The Secret, Dr. Emoto, Landmark Education, Peak Potentials, and many others while attending Bastyr University.

Many people talk about what “their thing” is in life and often I say I don’t know.I always feel like I have so many things.

This is definitely my thing: Energetics and how it applies to healing and getting all the things you want in your life. This is the “thing” I love. Nothing inspires me more then when I hear about people healing themselves by changing their own energy. This can mean so many things, often times its just about changing what is in your head, changing your mind. Change your thinking and you can change your cells, and therefore change your life.

I have always wanted to be a public speaker and educate masses of people. Often times I kind of go back to Nutrition, which I believe is extremely important and a part of energy and life. However- My dream is to educate large groups of people on how to live life to the fullest and how to change their energy to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. Learning these things (and constantly learning and applying and learning again) is what truly changed my life.

The Coconut Macaroon

I had a Coconut Macaroon (I have had many) that I bought from the heatlh food store in the Zurich train station. It was the most delicious one I have ever laid on my tastebuds. Perfect flavor and texture, and gluten-free. Which a macaroon should be, but often people add flour.

I bought the ingredients several months ago, but was waiting for the right moment. The urge came, and I made these wonderful little balls of coconut yumminess!!

3 Easy Ingredients:

Toasted Coconut Flakes
Egg Whites
Sugar

Bye Bye 2006, Hello 2007

When I was quickly thinking about 2006, I thought hmm..... not much happened. Just the usual. Then I started really thinking and realized that 2006 was one of the most unique years of my life.

What made last year, 2006, very unique was I spent most of it living in Switzlerland.

Living in a new country is truly an experience and I recommend that everyone give it a try!!! At first I felt so alone, had no friends, could not speak with the people. Then I got over it, I learned that I just had to jump in and go for it. Now Switzerland feels like home 100%. I still can't eat as much cheese as a Swiss person though!!

2006 was also the first time, Honey and I lived together, not just traveled together. Its the "same same but different." I have really enjoyed it, I got to be a real live "haus Frau."

Travel Love grew up. The beauty of Travel Love is that it is at the heart of who we are. We are still continuing to travel. It will never stop, now we have simply added in a few more ingredients and a few more adventures. Next stop buying a house, to fix and sell!!

In one month we are leaving the Schweiz and heading to America for the next Chapter!! Don't worry we won't be there for too long!