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!