It can happen anywhere...

I'm living in Munich and there was a gun rampage in Munich yesterday evening. It felt strange and really vulnerable to have something like this happening in a safe city like Munich. The safety aspect is the reason I live here and it really still feels unreal und I'm still shocked that it happened and so many people got killed.

I think in the world we live now things like this can happen anywhere and anytime and it is nothing that can be controlled or escaped from. Once again it gives me the feeling that you need to really live everyday and enjoy the small things life has to offer.

Thoughts about Time

When I was a child time seemed to be so much longer. I still remember the feeling during the long summer holidays, how long a single day could be at that time. Playing outside and no need to care about anything.

I sometimes wish a had the same time feeling now that I had back then. A soon as you start to work time just flies and certainly not because you're having fun. When I arrive at work within the blink of an eye it's time for lunch and the next time I look at the clock it's time to leave. The days seem to pass away so fast and the circle of getting up and it is still dark outside and coming home and it is dark again, with almost no time spent outside is something that sometimes gives me a nostalgic feeling. I would love to have more time for myself and for my family. I wish it was a summer holiday and I was in Sweden right now...

Tiredness

Normally I'm a very active person but the last weeks with the new job, a booth, a European meeting of all entities and having a cold for the second time now within 4 weeks and still going to work every single day makes me feel so tired. I can't keep my eyes open when I come home from work, it's unbelievable how hard it is. I would need a summer break, with nothing to do, just breathing the warm air the scent of fresh green grass and silence ( only the sound of birds and the leaves in the wind is allowed :)) Do you feel the same at the moment?

Photo: winendine.se

Kram and have a nice evening!

Isabell

Waiting for spring

I don't know how you feel, but I'm waiting for Spring to come. As much as I love Christmas, but  during February at latest I get the feeling that I have had enough of the darkness (which even candles can't change :) ). Normally Tim and I fly away during March to escape from winter but as I have started my new job I can't. Tim will fly to the Canary Islands mid of March, but I will stay here. I guess that's the reason why I wait for Spring to come even more this year….

Photo: agnesmatre

Sunday, Sunday

Best and at the same time worst day of the week. In Munich all of the shops are closed on sundays, so everything is really calm and you can dare to have a walk in the city center- which I normally really avoid due to the crowds of people. Sleep until 9 am and have breakfast in one of the many cafés, meet friends or invite friends for dinner, visit art exhibitions, go to a museum or cinema… and the return home for tea and bake a cake… perfect.

But in the evening on sundays, I know that it's the last free minutes before working again monday morning. My new job is really good and I like working, but I sometimes wonder if it doesn't have too much meaning in our life. We spend more time with our colleagues than with our family and partner during the best years of our life. I just sometimes wonder...

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year 2014 to all of you! 

This year Tim and I have celebrate New Year's Eve at home and I can tell you this was really the best decision ever. I'm always a little bit scared to have drunk people in crowds and fireworks rockets flying around in all directions. In Germany New Year's Eve is always celebrated with a lot of fireworks rockets, I had a nice view from our window to see all the sparkling and glittering colors - and felt safe at home just watching it :)

I will start my new job tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it and at the same time I'm feeling a little bit nervous what it's going to be like and if it's really better than the old one? What will my new colleagues be like? Keep your fingers crossed for me ;)

Isabell

Peaceful December

This year is is the first december since many years that I will really have a peaceful december. Today in one week is the last working day in my old company and then I'll have 2 weeks in which I can fully concentrate on Christmas and time for myself. Time to get up in the morning and turn on my Swedish lights, bake, decorate and just have time to read, to listen to e-books and stay at home in the warmth. It's been a long time since I was able to think about nothing and to just enjoy the day. I'll give all the responsibility for customers and projects to my colleagues and I haven't started the new responsibilities yet. How seldom is this in life? It feels so free and I can't stop counting the days...

Oh What a Happy Day!

Do you remember my new years resolution?

One of the sentences was "This is the point where I want to make a New Year's resolution to myself: In 2013 I'll do my outmost to find a new job and to have more time. Time for the ones I love and for myself." 

And I made it, I got a new job starting from 1 January 2014. I really can't believe it! After all the interviews and the preparations for these interviews for various companies I finally made it. (That's also the reason why I couldn't blogg as much as usually). They will send me the contract in a few days and I'm so much looking forward to cancel the other contract. In this company I really worked hard sometimes from 8 am to 11 pm while my boss called me from his golf class. Did you also have these situations in your life?

I'll just enjoy my evening and I'm going to enjoy Christmas this year even more!

Kram,

Isabell

 

First hints for Christmas

Munich is preparing itself for the advent and Christmas season. Today when I went through the inner city I've already found some of the huts built up and waiting for Christmas to come. I like it so much, that's the first hint that Christmas is close. While it can be a very stressful part of the year for others (the newspapers are already having headlines like "how to enjoy a peaceful Christmas without stress") I simply enjoy this time of the year. I think most of the stress is because we all tend to wanting everything to be perfect: the Christmas tree, the decoration, the food, the gifts... instead of enjoying the time we have together with the ones we love.

For me it's all about enjoying the little things in life, like the anticipation for Christmas market

or passing by the display windows of some shops and restaurants with a cozy lightning and decoration.

That's part of Christmas for me too.

Kram,

isabell

Snowflakes everywhere

I couldn't believe it when I looked outside the window at work today: huge snowflakes were falling down and I felt the same joyful feeling that I always have when it starts to snow for the first time and my favourite season is near: Christmas. I'm one of these persons that already starts to think about Christmas in August and everywhere I'm traveling and everywhere that I am and I find something that is linked to Christmas I just can't resist... like this spatula from Martha Stewart's holiday collection, which I've bought in the US on my last holiday. For now it is stowed away, but I'm really looking forward to using it while baking Christmas cookies and showing it to you!

Photo: Martha Stewart Holiday Collection at Macy's

Have a great first snow day!

Isabell

More from Berlin

It really felt good to have a few days off. And Berlin is so close to Scandinavia, that sometimes you have the Scandinavian influence even there. I had grilled fish and potatoes with dill and sour cream. Do you know the feeling you get when you smell or taste something that brings back memories? I had this feeling when eating the fish together with the dill potatoes. Already when I took the first bite, this was Swedish summer, sitting in the garden with my family and my grandma who comes with a carafe filled with elderflower juice and who prepared this fish for dinner. I really miss that and you can imagine how good it was:

After the dinner we just took our bicycles and cycled trough Berlin to Alexanderplatz and the sky had this light blue dark blue mix like on the picture and it was after 11:30 pm! This is what I like about summer and having vacation: being outside until it gets dark.

Have a good day!

Isabell

Old friends and Sushi

I've met one of my oldest friends today after at least 8 years. We've been 8 friends at high school, 4 couples and none of us is still a couple. We used to be together everyday after school, then we all finished high school and all went different ways. The only one left from that time in my life is my best friend who lives in Copenhagen. It's strange to see someone after all this time, someone you knew very well a long time ago, but you can't tell who he is nowadays. He has gotten quite old ( I guess he'd say the same thing about me :)) and he's been working for a consulting company the last 6 years, so I think that's why. It was a little bit strange in the beginning I didn't know where to start to tell him what has happened in the last 8 years. Such a long time and so much has happened... but after a while it felt somehow familiar. Why do we loose good friends on our way through life? He was really the one I could talk to when I was sad and he would always help me. He was the one who convinced me to eat sushi in high school so therefore we went to a sushi place today.

Photo: mux

I wonder how it will be in another 8 years, what will I be able to tell then?

Kram,

Isabell

Summer coziness

For me in life there are 2 forms of coziness - winter coziness and summer coziness. Winter coziness is one of the best things I know- for me it's the feeling you have when you come to a warm room from the very cold outside. You light some candles and have some tea on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and you watch the snow falling down thick and soft.

But summer coziness is special, too. You have these long days when it's getting dark at 10 pm, you go to the fruit stand and buy some strawberries, pick some things and go to have a barbecue and you watch the stars. We often do that during summer we just pack some things to eat and some blankets on or bikes and we stay outside until you can see the stars. And the best thing is that it's still warm when you cycle home.

Picture: Ikea

Tomorrow is a bank holiday here in Germany, so I will have time to watch the stars tonight.

Kram,

Isabell

Ready for traveling

I've just packed everything for our journey, I'm looking forward to it but at the same time I also feel sad. I always have this feeling before leaving, I don't know why. As soon as I am in the destination, it's gone and the joy about being there prevails. It's like a thing that comes to your mind automatically like when you have just closed the door and you ask yourself if you have switched off the coffee machine. I also always have the feeling that I forgot something, and mostly I really do :). So now I'm ready for traveling...

Photo: fertig-reisen

I don't know when I'm going to have an internet connection, but I'll write as soon as I have it. :)

Kram,

Isabell

You get what you give

It can sometimes be too much to be a god person. I have often been disappointed by those I helped the most in my life and as I never say "stop", "no" or "I can't do it" but "Yes of course", "Yes", " How can I help you?" it can sometimes be bad to realize that some people just take advantage of it. And then there are situations like today, when I came home and I found this Easter bunny withote "Thank you for your help" note, wrapped in a transparent foil hanging at my door from a friend from whom I wouldn't  have expected that she would say anything at all.

So somehow you get what you give...

Kram,

Isabell

Time for other things?

Today is a day on which I really managed to do a lot... Early in the morning we went to a building center to buy everything you need for painting the wall and some other things ( you go to a building center for 1 thing and you go home with a 100 :)) Then I've painted one wall of the kitchen in dark grey... I'm so excited about seeing the result tomorrow morning when it has dried! And I will of course also show it to you tomorrow. After that I felt a need to do the spring cleaning, so I've started that too and now I'm sitting here at the table and I'm very happy about all the things I managed to do feeling like an interior designer from one of these tv shows. :) Sometimes I feel a need to just read a book or just do nothing and then there are times where I just feel I need to change something and I roll up my sleeves and I work for hours on one thing and I just can't stop until it's finished. The only bad thing about it is that time passes away so fast and all of a sudden the weekend is gone and it's monday and you need to go to work again. I can sometimes feel that I would need double the time than the one I have for doing things I like and to also keep just a little time for myself too. As I already told you in one of my posts I can't say no and I tend to "overbook" my weekends, so that I ask myself on monday where all the time has gone...

Fasting

I like sweets very much and I eat a lot of cakes, cookies and chocolate, especially in the evening. But once a year during the fasting period, I abstain from all these things. The first 2 weeks are the worst, because you see all these nice things in the supermarket and your body is used to get sweets. It's strange  but it's the same symptoms like as if you are depending on smoking and you quit smoking. I can even be in a bad mood these 2 weeks and then after these 2 weeks it's just getting better, I start to eat fruits instead and when the fasting period is over on Easter Day, I don't need sweets anymore. Quite the contrary, the first time I eat chocolate after 40 days I find it too sweet. Of course I start eating it again, but I feel somehow healthier after the fasting and I'm happy that I made it, which gives you a good feeling. A lot of my friends have started to use the fasting period to abstain from Facebook or TV and they told me that it is a good feeling too, because all of a sudden you have much more time for yourself. I think it's good to abstain from something that you like or spend a lot of time on, just to see that you have the self-control and can make it and that you appreciate things again in a different way.

Home from work

Today we didn't have internet at work, so we all were allowed to go home earlier. It feels so good to go home when it's still daylight, it somehow feels like when you were a child and it was the last day at school and you had summer holidays in a way. I took the train and I went off one station earlier just to have a short walk and enjoy the sun that has shown up today. Then I went to the supermarket to buy food for dinner and it was nearly empty! Normally when I get back from work there is a queue, but today there was nobody but me and the cashier. What is normal for other people, was really a strange feeling for me...

Back home I brewed some black tea with milk and sugar and now I can write my blog and do all the things I didn't have time for the last weeks...

It's such a small thing, but I'm happy!

Kram,

Isabell

Dreams

Everybody has a dream. One of my dreams is to live in Sweden one day. I grew up in Germany, went to school in Germany but spent most of my vacations in Sweden. Maybe I'm idealizing Sweden, I'm well aware of that, but if you never live there how can you know how it's really like? Sweden for me is a combination of wonderful memories, like drinking pear juice and eating homemade pastries from my grandma, picking wild sweet strawberries and living at the sea:

Photo: lillfemman

I love this picture, I would like to move in immediately!

Kram,

Isabell

Winter is back in Munich

It's so freezing cold right now and snow has returned to Munich after we got a glimpse of Spring a few day ago. It has it's beautiful sides too, like when the sun is shining through the trees and you can feel the warmth on your face. Usually I stay at the office during lunch break, mostly because I have too much work to do so that I sit in front of my PC and have my lunch there or together with my colleagues. But today I decided to go out and get some fresh air. It was cold indeed but the sun turned the snow into a glittering world and you could hear the first birds singing again.

Photo: winter-muenchen

And I felt better and fitter and not tired anymore, I think I will that more often from now on.

Have lovely Tuesday!

Isabel