Hey @Robin4, long time no hear!
And I love character of old houses too! (but what this hotel room bathroom had wasn't character. It needed sprucing up badly.)
But that's what I meant when I said that my mind has become Airbnb(review) warped. I can't look at anything not fully perfect without imagining the less than 5 stars, haha!
Rob, I love that birthday card! What a beautiful idea having it updated every year - very special.
I'd seen the picture of the wall you had posted to Helga with the story of the wife of that former owner who had visited you once.
I think it is a wonderful solution for giving history an honored place in a renovated contemporary home.
Yes, I guess you could say mine's a life well lived 🙂
In a nutshell:
Born in the lovely provincial city of Freiburg in the Black Forest which is close to the borders to France and Switzerland.
Very soon after, my parents moved to a spa town for 2 years to run their bed&breakfast. I only realized last year when I came across one of the old historical hangers with 'Hotel Garni" on it, that hosting is in my genes kind of. It got to be too much for the young marriage, so they sold it and moved back to Freiburg.
Not long after they packed their things and moved to the South Shore area of Montreal, Canada where my father re-invented himself as beef cow farmer. So I grew up as a farm girl for 12 yrs through highschool; I really hated those cows though...
We all moved back to Germany and I started an apprenticeship as administrative clerk for industry (as opposed to wholesale) - it's a German thing.
My parents went back to Canada after a year and a half, and against my parents wishes I decided to continue my life in Germany.
Worked for a number of years in different jobs in the general area there before discovering a great love: contemporary jewelry, all it's materials, and how the making of it can make one's soul sing. Took courses for a couple of years and was hooked.
I moved to Berlin for a year where I worked alongside doing an internship with a jeweler.
Moved to a smaller city outside of Frankfurt where I attended a jewelry school for a year.
Then moved to Amsterdam to study jewelry art&design and never left.
🙂