Yesterday, after a long day at the market, we rewarded ourselves with an Eiskaffee (think root beer float with coffee instead of soda) at Kauf Dich Glücklich in Prenzlauerberg. We are making conscious efforts to cut down on the sweets. Less sesame ice cream from the café on Grimmstrasse. Fewer slices of cheesecake from Avril. No more sweet and sour gummies, even if I'm at the movies (Wednesday night, Jarmusch's Night on Earth, Lichtblick Kino in Prenzlauerberg). Of course, I don't know if it's wholly necessary. The effort to cut down, that is. Matt's running quite regularly and I join him at least once a week. The other day went particularly well and we ran 7.5 miles. I felt totally fine until I tried to make a 300-meter gut check.

Of course, not all of our days are spent snacking at decrepit public pools and lying in the sun. Much of our time is taken up by the domestic demands of adulthood. Especially because we have been cooking so much at home, a significant amount of time has to go into the shopping, preparation, enjoyment and clean-up of each meal. Either the peanut butter container needs to be rinsed or the kidney beans need their water changed. Excuses, right? But add that with the fact that each week presents us with a new challenge. Last week it was the internet. If you think compromising with Comcast's tele-personnel is a challenge, give it a try in German. Kabel Deutschland was, surprisingly, more sympathetic than Comcast. But only once we had the technician out to our house to replace our modem were we told that our router was also kaputt. In the end, after a long call to D-Link's service line and an unusual reset procedure, we were able to get it up and running without purchasing any replacement parts. Soon we will have to deal with more bicycle maintenance -- Matt's bike won't shift gears, mine has only one functional brake. And yesterday my headphones stopped working.

All of this costs money. But we have our venture selling Einkaufstaschen. If by chance any of you want one of these 100% cotton, long-handled shopping bags (save the environment and look great doing it!), let me know and I'll reserve one for you! I would be very honored, of course, to have some of you fine folks carry our bags. Only $9! All bags are printed on natural-colored cotton. The Berlin bag and the Bicycle bag are printed in black ink, the one we nicknamed Waves is royal blue. Check them out below, additional photos are on Flickr.

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