a trip to stuttgart, otherwise known as “sleep camp”

{stuttgart, Germane}

I’d never been to Stuttgart before but my friend Heather, who lives there with her husband, had invited me several times and we eventually worked out a time for me to visit.  The initial plan: me spending 1 night in Stuttgart.  What ended up happening: me spending 1 week in Stuttgart.

As soon as Heather found out I had the week off of work, she said, “Excuse me?  Why didn’t you tell me that?  We can have so much fun this week!”.  She took a day off of work herself just to show me around the city (and clearly, based on the single photo, above, I have so much photographic evidence of that tour). 

She also took me to the Army base, where she and her husband work, so that I could pick out some American treats from the American grocery store.  I almost had a heart attack when we walked into the store and she said, “Fill up the shopping cart with anything you want; I’m buying”.  I limited myself to just “a few” items:  Fruity Pebbles, brown sugar cinnamon Pop Tarts, Jiffy cornbread, Quaker rice cakes (ranch flavored), Chex Mix, 1 Totino’s Pizza and Funfetti cupcake mix (with frosting).  Following that little shopping spree, she took me to Pop Eye’s (on base) so I could eat 3 biscuits with honey.  Because let me tell you…coming from where I come from, it is pretty darn rough living on a continent where “biscuit” means “stale pseudo-cookie”.  Eating a warm, doughy, flaky, floury, buttery biscuit covered in honey was downright heavenly (even if it did come from Pop Eyes…).

We jokingly referred to my stay in Stuttgart as “sleep camp” because I felt as though I’d been sent to some type of sleep rehabilitation center.  All I did there was sleep.  And eat.  And watch movies.  It was glorious.  Every day, Heather and Chris would go to work and I’d sleep in, eat 2 bowls of Fruity Pebbles for breakfast (I finished the entire box before the week was over and no, neither Heather nor Chris ate so much as a pebble) while watching Valentine’s Day (why on earth did anyone find it acceptable to cast Taylor Swift in a major motion picture?), The Social Network (seen it before, of course, but had to watch it again because ohmygosh is Aaron Sorkin a genius), The Town (this actually might be one of my favorite movies ever), The Last Song (no, as a matter of fact I don’t know what possessed me to watch this, but thank you for asking) and The Reader (I didn’t love it but didn’t hate it).

Remarkably, I did not leave ‘sleep camp’ 10 lbs heavier than when I arrived.  I’m still trying to figure that one out.

The only other memorable event that occurred was Heather’s husband issuing her a lifetime lipstick ban.  Prior to my arrival, she’d ask me to “bring all [my] lipsticks”.  My lipstick collection consists of precisely 4 colors but I brought them anyway and Heather sampled them all. 

{had i known i was staying in stuttgart longer than 1 night, i would’ve packed a variety of clothes.   …and this is why i’m wearing a green zip-up hoodie in just about every photo from my trip.}

{steve, a friend of heather’s – told her he could not have a serious conversation with her unless she removed the lipstick…steve is not a fan of lipstick, noted.}

more photos featuring lipstick and hoodies to come....!