Nov 28th – Monday - dea shnee ist shun.

Readin and writing and wishin for snow, the kind that falls down and makes the world glow, its bright and its clean and so the flowers can rest, then come again spring they be lookin they best.

There is peace in the world you don’t fully control, need a hand to play if I’m gonna make gold, and its not all about where you are in the end, but how far you got from where you beginned.

Is it wasting my time to watch the snow fall? I’m supposed to busy productive and all, but I’m dreamin and ain’t life the world I create, and if I aint perfect am I still first rate?

Some questions you ask and some you just don’t, and some will be answered and some they just wont, and when you figure it out that’s your chance to grow, and when it all finds you, I guess you just know.

Nov 23rd –
Fighting my addiction to German chocolate so I’ve switched to oranges. This is my desk.

An update on my relationship with the hair puller: We are actually now past the hair pulling stage (4th grade) and things are picking up a bit – we flew through the “I see you staring at me because I am staring at you too” stage (fifth grade). Which means we are now in the “awkward” stage (sixth grade) where we find lame reasons to talk to eachother (“Did you break the printer?”) and one of us usually says something stupid (usually me). This concerns me, because it means we are approaching seventh grade, and if history repeats it self, this is the stage where Erin C. shows up and asks him out just before I get the nerve too, and then I’ll totally have to watch them not hold hands like all day. What a skank! Okay but the joke is on us ladies, cause he doesn’t come out of the closet til college.
This is getting ridiculous ;)

Nov. 21 – uuuuuuuuuuuuuh
Really, as much fun as it is to wait for a doctor, it is even more fun to do it when you are pissed off in a foreign country and no one speaks English. 8 hours today, in waiting rooms and getting shots of radiation and having my bones scanned. NOT FUN! Finally got to work and found Moet and flowers and chocolates on my desk. Thanks Bastian.

November 20th – Birthday ME!
It is my birthday and I am a princess!!! I have a super frilly skirt and boingtastic hair and I feel pretty! Oh so pretty! Today, after a brief fight with guenduez and a photoshoot for work (ug! I want a day off already!) I went to out with Monie.ka. Much fun! We sat in the sweetest café, perfect with candle light, the kind of chairs you sink into, and yummy yummy applestrudel with vanilla ice cream! We went to a candy shop where they made candy the old fashioned way. It was amazing, watching this massive blob of sparkling orange candy roll around the table as it was prepared for the molds. The guy cut us off a little piece to taste and omg, you have never had anything like this. Imagine, a hard candy so warm it actually cools in your mouth, forms to the shape of your tongue, and is the perfect mix of sweet and sour. Mmmmm! After, we happened upon a Lush, so I bought heavenly ball of bubble bath and went home to soak. Perfect!
Finally, Saturday night was my Birthday Party with a few people from work. We went to a very chill bar on Bergman Strasse and had some yummy drinks. But I really really wanted to dance, so I dragged Guenni and Monie to a club. Too bad the music sucked. Danced by myself for five min and then gave up. Once I realized the DJ was wearing a sweater vest, I knew there was no hope. Still, as far as birthdays go, didn’t suck. Think I’ll celebrate again in Boston though.

So, I spent the majority of my day at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, watching an Irish man curse his way though a TV script that I wrote. Then I got back to the office and bounced around inviting everyone to come drink for my birthday, not that I know where to go yet. And you know what?

I think watching the new Backstreet Boys video was still the highlight of my day. It is THAT funny!!!

Only a crazy brazilian would read the word OW and think it meant something dirty! In other news, congrats to Fred and Dan on scoring the job of their dreams. Dreams... you remember what those are right? pretty movies you watch in your sleep. Do you still remember sleep?

so, i was soaking in the bathtub (mmmm!) and i got to wondering. bathtubs are awfully short. why is that? ten dollars and cupcake to anyone who can explain. And i don't want the smart ass answer about the practicallity of large tubs in small living space. I want the real answer, sordid details and all. Perhaps mr. bathtub inventor made it smaller in order to appear more well endowed when bathing in front of mrs. bathtub inventor? perhaps mr. cruise had one specially made so he wouldn't have to share with the first mrs. cruise, and then it became trendy? thats probably not it. take your best guess. surprise me. surprise yourself.
as if there was any doubt - my brain is a strange place to live :)

Dear Monica,
Okay, I knew when I gave you my blog address there was a reason I shouldn't have, but I didn't know what it was. Now I do. In addition to knowing, um, way too much about me, you know you are on my blog. But the info that is up totally does not do you justice. You are completely wonderful and our friendship has been one of the highlights of my time in Berlin. You have been so kind and sensitive about my birthday and that has made me feel a million percent better. Whatever we end up planning, I am sure we are gonna have a blast. Also, we get along really well. We are two girls lost in Berlin because we are two girls with the guts to go out and get lost in Berlin. We both rock, and our friendship rocks too. Okay, that is enough sappy lauren for tonight. oh, wait, no I forgot to say, i think we'll be friends long after we've both left Berlin. In a few years I'll be dodging the bouquet at your wedding to James, and whether it's in Vienna or London or outer space, we'll both still be gorgeous :) Bussi, L

okay, i have to go be silly now to counteract all of this mush!

Nov. 15th - ouch.
Today was a terrible horrible no good very bad day and then some. Let me count the ways:
1. Grades from Strada. Jerk.
2. Rain during our photo shoot.
3. Pickles and mustard on my hot dog.
4. Car accident.
This jerk rear ended us right in the middle of the street! We were driving our favorite JVM Mini and he hit us HARD. Of course it was raining and we had to get out and exchange info. He was being a jerk to us, but once the Polezie came he calmed down a bit. My back hurts a lot, and Gunni’s leg too, so we went to the doctor. The pain keeps moving, but it’s only been two hours. Doctor says it is probaly not serious: I’ll hurt like hell on Wednesday but start to feel better on Thursday. He needs to see me again then to be sure. They gave me some pain killer crème – pretty strong stuff! Germans tend to take their meds topically, and think American’s take too many pills. Whatever, as long as it helps. We are waiting for an xray of Gunni’s leg. He is pissed that he can’t play soccer tomorrow. This sucks :(

Okay, so I have been trying my hardest to take pictures that inspire oohs and ahhs. Apparently that is going to take a little more time…. But below are a few to start with. So the past week and a half, I have been putting my writing talents to good use by gluing packing peanuts together. Seriously. The next time I have a great idea, remind me not to.

As I mentioned, Guenni and I had a cool ambient idea for DHL. Our CD's love it. They want to send it to Cannes. Now we just have to shoot it. make. it. perfect. we've done like four photo shoots already and we still don't have a single shot that is right. ("Lighting is too harsh. I can't see the logo. This angle sux. I changed my mind... " Arg!) Also, this seemingly brilliant idea involves packing peanuts. A lot of them. So last Tuesday, we spent most of the day chasing them down a windy street, and trying to convince preschoolers not to eat them. Wednesday we glued them all to cardboard. Thursday we discovered spray mount eats through styrofoam. Friday it rained so we couldn’t shoot. THANK GOD. Then Sunday we had to rake an entire playground in order to make the background of the shot clean. This project is going to be the end of me. Seriously.

In good news,I asked my friend Monica to art direct a headline campaign I wrote. She used to work at Vivienne Westwood in London, and since it is a fashiony campaign I though she would be perfect. Thankfully, she agreed, but it wasn't until after she did that I saw her book. Oh My God... she is friggin awesome. Our CD is totally wasting her talents. And her style is so totally perfect for the campaign. Bonus that since she is doing it... I don’t have too! YES! Oh the joys of being a copywriter. Plus, all she keeps getting at work is shitty logo assignments, so she is like, omg, real headlines, a real brief, yay! She actually wants to do it, she's not just doing me a favor. AWESOME! I'm really happy to have her help, she brings a lot to the project. And poor guenni has enough on his plate with all our brilliant ideas from last quarter.

Also, we totally rocked our first presentation for Street Football World. Even the CD thought my headlines were better than his. HA!

Right, so I know it seems like all I talk about is work… But my birthday is less than a week away, and I have a pretty new skirt to wear and Monica and I have plans to get all gorgeous and go out and break a few hearts. So I’ll try to have more “interesting” stories next week. Even though I totally know you find me interesting already, or you wouldn’t still friggin be reading. HA!

Much love, Me.

Dear girl on the train – since you are wearing a sweatshirt that says Albany, it is not unreasonable for me to ask you if you are from Albany. Don’t look at me like I am crazy. At least I showered this morning! Bitch.
Sincerely, me.

new for fall, the oh so manly knee sock

candy!!!

my friend monie.ka!!!!
we are both much cuter than this picture implies...

berlin graffiti is very cool. I dig it.

you know your lauren isn't getting enough attention when she starts going all shirley temple on her hair! germany, you have been warned!
I’m bored. Come play with me. I’m trouble when I’m bored. I’ve spend enough time exploring Berlin on my own. I need a playmate. So come visit. We can giggle like self conscious teenagers while we eat rostbratworst. We can jump in freshly raked piles of leaves. We can try as many Berlin beers as you want. You know you wanna!