First sun allergy

I try to keep up with my blog, since I had some "complaints" about my loooong post the last time .. :P

Last Thursday, I hurried back home after work to pack my stuff and meet a 'stranger' for my ride home. In Germany, they are known as "Mitfahrgelegenheit", it's like pre-arranged carpool/hitch-hiking thing, where you can look for people online that drive a certain route and look for passengers. It was my first time and the girl, I drove with was very nice, we had a good talk and the 4,5h drive didn't seem that long any more.

On Friday, my schedule was jam-packed, I had brunch in Düsseldorf at Café Schwan, which was nice, but the price-quality-ratio was only okay, especially compared to Café May in Hamburg. Café Schwan had less choice, it was not arranged that nicely and the price was a little higher. Therefore, the area (Altstadt, near the Rhine-promenade) was more appealing! Afterwards, we went strolling around the promenade, where it's all about seen and to be seen, which is a thing that I dislike about Düsseldorf .. mostly it were younger women with older men, accessorized to the max with Chanel handbags, Gucci shoes, big jewellery and far too much make up. Later, I went house-viewing, since my friend just build his first house very close to where my parent's live. I like his taste and his kitchen is gorgeous - white, simple, yet modern - without any knobs or handles. I forget to take pictures .. I will catch up next time once it's ready and he has his bar installed ;-)

Düsseldorf, my other home ..

For the rest, my Easter weekend was very low key. After the fully planned Friday, I was pretty beat. I tried to relax most of the times, although I woke up early every morning, was bored and struggling with my sun allergy. I hate it! Every year when the first sun comes out, it hits me and I get a rash on both arms and it itches like crazy - just because I spent a little too much time outside .. I will try to plan nothing in the weekend, which is hard for me, since I hate wasting time and doing nothing is wasting time for me, but I think it will help me relax more and make me more fit for the week ahead .. let's see if I can resist! ;-)

Sam's Easter basket

I am looking forward to May, since it's my favourite month of the year, since the weather is most enjoyable, flowers blossom the most beautiful and there are the most public holidays - at least in Germany (since it's a rather religious country)! Also my cousin is going to marry and I will be one of the bridesmaids, which means there are a lot of things to look forward to. I will be also planning the bachelorette's party (it will even be a weekend), so that will be even more fun ..
We got the dresses made in Hong Kong in a very nice lilac color and I can't wait to try them on .. now I am challenged to find the perfect matching (and comfortable) shoes and maybe even handbag within a month. I just found these .. what do you think? yes or no? gold or silver?

That's it for now .. I will catch up on some series .. I hate online streaming by the way .. any tips to watch with a better quality for free and legal, let me know!

Happy short rest-week ahead! :)

First quarter

First of all my apologies (to the handful readers I still have) for my absence .. I guess this is not really contributing to more or remaining readers, but blogging is also functioning as some sort of diary for me, so that in 20 years I can read back my own words ..

Anyhow .. a little recap of the past 4 weeks (omg, has it been so long?):

Week 12 -

• As you might remember, I have been working quite some over-hours. Consequently I got warned by several departments and got more or less forbidden to work more than 10 hours (actually 11 since breaks are deducted) since I am not insured any more IF something happens and the German work council is pretty strict on this.

• Mid-week I went back home to my parent’s by car (can you believe, I got 3 tickets within a month? Hamburg is a pricey city for drivers!) and left it there, although I’m considering driving it back the next time, since it’s oh-so-convenient. The drive up was pretty tiring, since I left around 6pm after work and got immediately stuck in traffic.

• The next day, my sis and I went to Rotterdam (NL) to have AYCE-sushi, shop (very successful: two dresses & two pairs of shoes) and have the first bridesmaids and grooms men meeting. My cousin is going to marry in May and we met to go through the planning and details. Also, I met my niece Kirsten.

My new grey suede peep toe half-boots <3

Meet 5-week old Kirsten Kaylee!

• In the weekend, I had drinks with friends, relaxed a little (actually I was a little bored with too much spare time) and helped out in my parent’s restaurant.

Week 13 –

• On Monday, I went to the outlet with the intention of buying a Prada bag with my first salary, but got disappointed, because there was nothing pretty .. Afterwards we went to Maastricht to visit my grandma and family.

1st row: spinach fettuccine with shrimps and roquette, salad from baked goat cheese, roquette, pine nuts, beef carpaccio with roquette and parmesan; 2nd row: red wine, vanilla cranberry muffins, seafood/weed soup

• Then I flew back to Hamburg. In week 13, I had dinner at (M)eatery at the Side Hotel that serves meat, obviously, but mostly all kinds of different steaks. I had the and it was very smooth and gooood! Also the toilet there was very futuristic and stylish:

I love the fact that is is sooo pink!

• I also went late-night shopping and furniture-hunting. I still haven’t found the perfect sofa .. and I’m expecting visitors very soon.

Week 14 –

• Closing week – do I need to say more? I didn’t do anything after work in that week, although I went home earlier than before (mostly due to the warnings before).

• I did more in the weekend though .. shopping on Saturday (just bought a pair of pants), wanting to go out in the evening (spent more than 30m finding a parking spot on the Reeperbahn and then waited almost an hour in front of a club - Moondoo, so don't go there if you're not willing to wait for at least an hour). I was annoyed afterwards and we only had drinks at East, which has a very relaxed atmosphere.

• On Sunday, I was a little bored and went to the airport with my baby (my DLSR camera) and expected to take amazing pictures, but was quite disappointed, so don’t go there! I went the other way in the direction of Langenhorn and found a little spot where you can see planes land, which was more amazing. When I left there were like 7 people with professional cameras. I think they were anticipating a big special plane, but after two hours I had enough of it (you have to wait a lot and I don’t like waiting). In the evening I went to the Dom – no, it’s not a church, but a fun fair, which takes place 3x a year. We strolled around a bit, I took a quick ride in the rollercoaster, caught a doll in the grabbing machine and had some Schmalzkuchen (another first!).

My 1st attempt of air plane snapshots

Week 15 – this week:

• On Tuesday, I had a little make up training by Benefit and tried out smoky eyes and blush (I have pretty small eyes and never use blush), but it was quite interesting! I look different and more healthy (since I'm rather pale), but more something for going out ..

Bad quality pic by webcam .. can you tell the difference?

• On Wednesday, I FINALLY managed to go to squash (company sports) and played more than two hours straight. I could let out my aggressions and it felt great doing some sports again. Two days later muscle ache struck .. weird that it comes with delay ..

• Before the weekend started I headed to HH-Neustadt to get a – wait for it – spray tan. If you know Friends: it’s exactly like the box that Ross went in BUT Mississippi-lessly. ;-) There are three different strength-levels of which I picked one, since I was too scared to come out like an African-Asian mix. I can tell that I am more tanned, but people I have seen this weekend didn’t notice it, which is good, I find. In the evening .. more night, I went to Golden Cut Club with the intention of partying and dancing. However, I was too tired and we just ended up having a drink at the club. The location itself was very nice – first it was directly next to the central station, mixed audience, 3 bars, good music, etc. I really have to check out this place again, when I am more fit!

• In the weekend, Uli from Schwerin came to visit me and we had a good, funny and chillaxed weekend. We strolled around at Sternschanze, which is a going-out are for mostly students or younger people and had delicious fish and some drinks before heading to a house warming party of a new acquaintance. The party was very interesting, because I knew none of the people. Most of them were prospective lawyers, since they were doing their legal internships in Hamburg. So also a lot of newbies like me. On Sunday, we had brunch with some friends of Uli at Cafe May (about one block away from my apartment), which was really good and cheap - definitely worth it's price. Afterwards we headed towards Planten un Blomen for a walk, since the weather was so sunny and nice. When Uli left, I headed for dinner with an old friend to meet his fiancée.

Planten und Blomen w/ Uli

Oh and I baked again, but somehow my attempt to make carrot cupcakes failed .. they look more like carrot cookie cupcakes, but they taste quite good ..

Martha Stewart's Carrot Cupcakes

You see that this blog is becoming more towards an insider tourist blog with tips for exploring Hamburg ;-) Have a good 4-day-week (sorry for the people in NL who have to work on Good Friday) & enjoy the Easter holidays!