I went to my first German Christmas Market today in Baden Baden, which is about 1.5 hours from us and about 30 minutes from the French border.  It was a cute little town and the Christmas market was really awesome.  It didn't disappoint.  There were tons of cute stalls, good food, and even alternates to the usual bratwursts (which I'm already sick of!).

I found some cool stuff at the stands, which were pretty diverse.  There was a stand with hand carved Indian wood pieces that I bought myself something from, a bought a pair of alpaca gloves because I was not dressed appropriately for the day (20 euro, I didn't think that was terrible), some truffle-honey, and a piece of nougat.

Most of the others around our area open later this week or this weekend.  I'm excited to check out a bunch.

Just some more images of the setup for the Christmas markets.  The tree below is the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen!  

I didn't get a picture of it because it wasn't ready yet, but even in my little town they're setting up a lifesize German Pyramid outside the grocery store.  

Jason and I have a little tradition of celebrating our anniversary on the beach.  Our anniversary is right before Thanksgiving.  Four years ago we celebrated on our honeymoon in Mexico, Three years ago we celebrated on the cliffs of Santorini, and next week we'll be doing it for a third time.  I can call it a tradition if we've done it three times, right?  We'll be toasting from this view in the Canary Islands next week.  

I can't wait!!  
The 10 year old inside of me wants to pack my bags tonight out of excitement!

With snow not far off (the weather keeps flip flopping on whether we'll see our first flurries tomorrow) and few leaves left on the trees, I stumbled upon these pictures from my phone from a walk I took a couple weeks ago.  The photo above is a greenhouse storing poinsettias, getting ready for the Christmas markets which start next week.

I booked my flight home today!  I'll be home for 2 1/2 weeks in January and I couldn't be more excited!

We finally made the trip to Frankfurt this past weekend to check out the cool mall where the Chipotle is.  It was a very cool mall, although not as big as I had thought it'd be.  They had a starbucks and the Chipotle didn't disappoint, so no complaining here.

I've been laying low this week.  I had an away swim meet in the Netherlands last Saturday.  I carpooled with another coach and drove there and back in one day (3 hours each way), so I was wiped after that.  

I've kept busy around the house since, set (and met!) a goal to get to the gym at least twice this week, coached two days, and cooked most nights.  I got out of the house today and did some shopping downtown with a friend though.  The Christmas markets, which people have been raving about since we moved here, start in a week or so in the main square downtown.  They were setting up these huge flowers that are strung with lights (see pic above) when we walked by.

We stopped in Starbucks for a much craved Pumpkin Spice Latte, only to find that the Fall flavors were gone and that the Christmas ones are in.  They aren't as crazy about Pumpkin Spice here as we are in the States.  They didn't put it out until October 1 and promptly replaced it with Christmas on November 1.  The Christmas flavors were awesome too though, so I wasn't too bummed.  The middle drink is "Lebkuchen Latte" which means Gingerbread Latte.  

Jason has a 4 day weekend this weekend, and I'm really excited for him to be home for 4 days straight.  We aren't planning any trips, but I'm hoping we can get up to Frankfurt one day since its so close and we haven't been yet!  We have some picture hanging to do as well before company comes in December.