Bye, bye July!

How can it be that I'm so inflexible? After my gym workout last week, I had muscle ache all over! For two days I had muscle ache in my neck - never thought that was possible. After one week I still had sore arms! Now I’m too lazy to do anything. My superior is currently on vacation (as are many other people) and I didn’t think it would be so busy for me, since the HQ had a lot of urgent last minute requests – even on a Saturday. Crazy Dutch people ;-)

Other than that my internet and telephone broke down right before the weekend and the technician didn’t come before Monday. I can't survive without internet, but luckily I had my iPhone, which I can depend on. So I spent the time with old movies on my laptop, like 127 hours or The Wall Street. On the corner of my house, there's video rental store, which I never thought, I'd step foot in, but I did last time when a friend was visiting and it was cold and rainy and uncomfortable all weekend. This weekend would have been the ideal opportunity to go again, but I just noticed that they shut down! So I started my SATC marathon since the weather was not summery at all. 

SATC-marathon - I actually only finished the first CD!

Last weekend, apart from the usual household duties, I did some apartment therapy, which is in fact related to my outlet shopping spree, BUT I’ll keep it until the next post ;-) Other than that I tried a cheesecake recipe (yours, J!) and altered it a little bit and it turned out surprisingly well. You know it especially, if kids like it, too!

Cheesecake

I also went out on the Reeperbahn to a small club named Superfly that played a lot of classic R&B (I like!). It was fun, since I haven’t gone out (dancing) for a while ..

@ Superfly w/ Wendy

I will actually go back home tomorrow to surprise my dad for his birthday (no, he doesn’t read my blog .. I’m not even sure, if he knows what a blog is). He has asked like three times already and I said I didn’t know or probably not :P 

Celebrating dad's bday 2009 in Paris

I will work until lunch time, then head to Düsseldorf to pick up a cake (no time for baking myself) and rush home, just in time (hopefully) to have cake with my dad before he has to go to work. I just learned that this weekend is supposed to be “Black Weekend” in Europe, since people start their vacations, head back or whatever, so I really hope this won’t affect me. However, it already concerns me that I got so many requests from fellow travelers – there were so many that I had to remove my ad. I will see .. I actually took 2 more days off to spend some time with my family. I haven’t seen my grandma in months and some family members from the US and Canada are currently in the Netherlands, so I will spend at least one day with them. 

Family reunions from the past years

I just found out, with relief, who will be my new neighbors. I live in an apartment complex for four parties, spread over three floors, of which three are currently occupied. The apartment on the first floor is connected to the one on the second floor that has been empty ever since I moved in. I also live on the second floor, which has been very quiet and peaceful. On the third floor, right above me, a guy lives, that I have only seen like twice (and I moved in almost 6 months ago), but only because his water was leaking into my bathroom (see here). I sometimes hear him .. mostly in the morning, when he starts his washing machine or in the weekend when he listens to Rihanna at 8am in the morning. :P The other apartment on the third floor is inhabited by 3 students that share the flat together, who are all very nice and I never encountered any problems with. So I was a little worried, when I saw people dismantling the whole sanitary installations and renovating all week long. Yesterday, I ran into the handyman and asked him about what was going on and apparently some kind of travel agency will move into the two-story apartment – this week already and I saw the renovation work. Good for me, since during their working hours (which are hopefully from 9 to 5), I won’t be at home anyway, so no disruption for me. :)

Update: I just googled and found the potential new neighbor, which I am almost sure it is (I’m pretty good at this) and the working hours are 9 to 7 during the week and Saturdays from 2 to 4pm, which I can live with. If I’m not mistaken, they procure holiday apartments and villas at the Mediterranean Sea.

I can’t believe, time is flying by so fast .. it’s already the last week of July! Having said this:

Life is short,
Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly,
Love truly,
Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you smile!

Monday blues ..

I don’t like Mondays (but at least it's over in my time zone) .. I’m always so tired, the caffeine at work doesn’t kick in and the day will just not end. Today I woke up way too late, went to the garage to get my car and when I didn’t see it, realized that I had parked it on the street. I packed my sports bag yesterday and when I was leaving work to head to the gym, I noticed that my bag was still at home. Grr .. then when I was finally at home around 9pm and grabbed for the spicery from the top cabinet whilst cooking, a sauce (sticky Vietnamese fish sauce) fell on the floor and the cap popped open and it stuck everywhere – on the floor, on the oven, on my socks .. Grrrr even more – and the best part  is that I still have not found the stupid cap yet. No idea where my head is at. BUT at least I went to the gym. I did 30min on the step and then joined a “Hot Iron”-course, which involves training the whole body with weights. It was fun, accompanied with music, but I’m sure I will have muscle ache all over the body tomorrow. I was literally out of breath after 20min, but nonetheless, I kept on for an hour. *proud*

Home-made chicken salad (after the work out today on my new plate :))

Lately, I’ve been too lazy and tired too blog (sorry, J!), especially after the 3-day weekend at home (the weekend before). The drive was good since I met three interesting passengers who kept me company on the way down. I finally had sushi (although the anticipation was too high, probably), did some retail therapy at the outlet (which I will dedicate another post to) and met with friends. The weekend was way too short and the drive back to Hamburg was exhausting by my own. Nevertheless, it fit into my hectic (work) week. 

Sushi at Naniwa, Düsseldorf

The weekend before, Uli stayed over and since she has lived here (and visited me) before, no obligated sightseeing was needed. We did some random, regular things, like dining at Das Weisse Haus, which was good, but not over the top. It's a cosy little place, which makes you feel like eating at a friend's place. Perfect place to go with a friend/Uli, but for a date it wouldn't be intimate/romantic enough, since you can look straight onto the plate of the neighbour at the next table. Also the menu is rather limited (you could only pick fish or beef as a main course) - only 2 choices for every course! We had cocktails at Die Bank afterwards, where I initially wanted to make reservations. Next time, I will definitely eat there, especially after this article. It has a really nice atmosphere and interesting little details (since it has actually been a bank before)!

Dining at Das Weisse Haus - Loup de Mer on the left // Moelleux au Chocolat with fruit sorbet and Tarte Tartin de poire with Grand Marnier brittle ice cream on the left

Drinks at Die Bank

Next time a more fashionable post ;-)

PS: I just passed my first 6-months ..

PPS: First time no first in the title!
PPPS: all pictures besides the last one were taken with my iPhone!

First of July

I think I'm running out of firsts :p but I have done all the things I wanted to do last weekend and went out on Sunday to take pictures of the Außenalster, where I haven't been before. I always drive past and see many sailers on the lake, so since it was so sunny, I went out to take some shots. These pictures have not been edited (yet), but they turned out pretty good already.

Außenalster

Baby swans!

This one reminds me of the ceiling of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, but it's actually the real sky! Doesn't it look like a wallpaper?!

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Since summer is obviously here (actually it is in hiding atm), I was thinking of some goals until the end of summer. Coincidentally, I have 5 to go with my Five Things:

1. Do sports at least once a week - I am too lazy and way too comfortable (especially once I get home, I literally don't wanna move), so either squash, swimming, dancing or whatever - anything that burn my calories is good for me! I actually just purchased a coupon for 1 month of fitness. Since I paid for it, I will make sure to go twice a week! I also went to squash yesterday. There is an Australian guy, who is in the top 20 of the German Squash League - and watching him play is amazing. He can just hit any ball and exactly knows where it lands (sometimes tricky with squash) .. he also took a little time to train with me (one more motivation to go)!:P

Gonna pick a month ..

2. Eat more healthy and regurlarly - I hardly snack (and don't take chocolate at 10am from my colleagues, which they already know), but I eat very, very irregularly. I mostly skip breakfast, although my fridge is full of yogurt, sometimes skip lunch (twice this week) and either have heavy dinners or unhealthy ones. So a yogurt each morning should be managable, lunch should be better handled and light dinners, like salads or sandwiches shouldn't be too hard (I guess).

Quick, easy and healthy!

3. Go to bed early .. earlier - I go to bed pretty late - often times around 1am, although I need to get up at 7-7.30am. Every morning I snooze until I only have like 20min to get ready and therefore have no time for breakfast.
And because of all these points above, I have got bad skin, feel stressed and tensed and loose a lot of hair .. okay, I start with it next week ..

4. Plan my vacation - these things always make me happy - I plan 2-3 more trips this year, but the main focus is on the biggest one, which is my Asia trip in Q4. Of course, I'm greedy and want to see so many places/cities/countries within a short amount of time. Rough planning is Hong Kong, China, Thailand and/or maybe another sunny destination. First I need to let it get approved, then I can book my ticket to HK and will take it from there.

Maybe it will be Koh Phangan?

Another trip might be a short trip with my bestie (long overdue, J!) and maybe a weekend at the German North Sea or Baltic Sea (I've actually been to neither of them although I've been living in Germany for so long now). And the last one this year will be my birthday trip. Since 2 years I have spent my birthday abroad (Madrid and Lisbon were the previous destinations) and I plan to make a tradition out of it. I really wanna see Marrakesh, Marocco but maybe due to the terrorist attack earlier this year, Istanbul.

5. Be happy - I stress too much about everything, worry and think a lot, which often proved to be as a waste of time. So I need to pursue the things that make me happy and leave the ones that don't behind .. Sometimes just the smallest things already make happy, like a postcard in the mail, finding a good deal on sale, or just something spontaneous or unexpected .. Sometimes it doesn't take much .. like this ladybug I shot:

Without a care in the world ..

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Anyway, Friday is here again .. this weekend another visitor to welcome in my small home; next week is going to be busy due to month-end closing (but I like it) and I look forward to going HOME on Thursday, long-awaited sushi (craving for it since months!), some outlet shopping, amongst others, but not looking forward to the 8hrs drive by car (back- and forth). At least I already found some random strangers to accompany me on the way to Düsseldorf.

To end this post, I came across a saying, a friend posted today that I want to share with you ..

In life, we all have an unspeakable secret,

an irreversible regret,

an unkept promise,

an unheard request,

an irreplaceable loss,

an unreachable dream and an unforgettable first love ..

But still, life is about being happy anyhow ..

‘cause everything in life can be summed up in just 3 words - IT GOES ON!

This is so true! Don’t linger around in the past, but look into the future. Live your life without regrets (easier said than done), therefore it’s important to have goals in your life, knowing what you want and also what it takes to achieve it (some of you have heard it over and over from me before), but that’s how I think and what I praise. 

So, life is precious – make the most of it!