3 things to be happy about

#1
The top of this shephard's pie is actually browned - ie: not burnt.
This is a major achievement in my crazy oven! Thanks to Hillary for the dinner idea. I realized tonight that I have never cooked shepherd's pie thanks to all the bad cafeteria experiences I've had. But homecooked it's really quite good!

#2
White tulips.
We finished the Old Testament survey course last night and as a thank-you we brought home a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates, and a pretty vase with white tulips in it. Such a nice thank you from the group! For all you non-Germans, the whole flowers/chocolates/wine thing is pretty much the norm here for all events, one or a combination always works. I've never had white tulips before and am delighted by their delicate simplicity.

#3
We had a great day trip on Saturday.
Ikea was great - we were out of there in record time and even had a nice Swedish meatball lunch - all in about 2-2.5hrs. I ran into this little napkin holder and had to grab it because a) it's less than 2 euro b) it's clear, so it goes with everything, and c) it solves a pet peeve I've had my whole life: you know when you have just a few napkins left in the holder and they slide down, making the paper napkin shaped like a J and then they just warp that way and look sloppy? Well this little guy has a built in spring at the bottom and keeps them squeezed in just tight enough. If you don't overstuff the thing you can easily pull one out without pulling all of them out. Love it!

The spa was great, lots of fun. I finally got this kink out of my neck that has been bugging me. This is the place Stefan's family would always go to since it's near where he grew up. After the spa we all decided to drive to Idstein to see Stefan's old high school and grab some good Chinese food. And can I just say how nice it was to be in a car where you didn't keep worrying that you'd never make it back to Marburg??