Photo of the day {7(!) days until Christmas}

Yes. They have Katniss Everdeen as a Barbie. I'm shocked too, I know.

(actually this is the picture of yesterday, but oh well. We don't take it too serious with the randomness, right?!)

Update {Christmas songs and a hot chocolate}

Because I thought an update on my current situation would be nice here we go:

I'm feeling waaaay better after my second day of rest and (less) pills. So while the snow rain is slightly drumming against my window, I'm inside all nice and cozy with my favourit cup of hot chocolate (because nothing warms you up better than a hot chocolate) and nothing feels better than finger prickling from the warmth of the cup you wrap them around.
I can see the whole beauty of the christmas decoration our neighbours from across the street got out (I'll sneek out later to get a decent photo, promise) and I'm looking forward to a nice and cozy evening with a movie and some light christmas preparations.

If I could, I'd send a hot chocolate and some glitter to everyone together with a nice christmas song. Instead you have to go and get it for yourself. But I'll think of you for sure :)

Being sick {9 days until Christmas}

This is what I bought on Thursday...right before I went to bed...for 14 1/2 hours (I guess that's sort of a new record for me...)

And that's what Friday looked like...bed, bed and more time in bed...

After another 13 hours of sleep (lots of Dyquil and Nyquil and Vitamin C) I sort of fell better now. Not totally fine yet, but better.
It's snowing outside and I'm trying to squeeze my to do list into my weekend into some less exhausting form...we'll see how that works. I hope none of you got caught by a cold and all your Christmas preparations are going the way they are supposed to.
I'll go back to bed now. See you :)

A good picture

Randomness on its best!

Recently I was thinking about what a good picture is about (concerning my personal believes).
There is the one which you look at and it's just stunning (and you have all those Ahhhs and ohhhs). But, and here comes the thing probably everyone already figured out (I'll just write it down! Ha!): Good pictures for me are the one's that caught something.
Like an emotion. The pictures might be blurry, out of focus, too dark, too light....whatever. But you look at them and they tell you this story, this moment captured.

You can't tell but this was a tradition captured...and we were about to run down a hill trying to avoid an enormous thunder...can you guess how exiting it was.

Randomness of the day....

My weekend {Only 12 days until Christmas!}

I've been super busy over the weekend, taking advantage of all the free time and working on my (never ending) to-do lists. But I also got time to just stay in bed, to watch old movies, to listen to a lot of Christmas music, to talk with my family and watch 'Community' and to enjoy all this little things which make your life so beautiful! ;)
My room is ready for Christmas!

Some paper cutting...

A bit dark, a bit blurry, but oh well!

All nicely arranged...I do live my colors!

Silver glitter

And my own personal Christmas tree....WITH star on top!

Beautiful Canada ♥

I also started with my top secret Christmas baking. Psssssst.... (and found out: It's all about a) chocolate b) butter and c) sugar!!!!!)

For who ever wants to count: There are 18!...plus chocolate chips not pictured :P

Butter ♥

And I did turn the whole place into a mess....but I also cleaned it up afterwards! ;)

And on Sunday I went to the German Christmas Market in Vancouver with friends, enjoying some Gluehwein and Bratwurst ;).
I should definitely try to make Gluehwein myself...you know...to pass on traditions....for cultural purposes only of course!

Now I'm back to my week. A week with a lot of good byes (most people here leave before Christmas) but with some new support down there:

Guess who are mine ♥ YAY!

I'll manage everything ;)

Photo of the Day {Tuesday Chili}

Heute mal in Deutsch.
Der Blog kommt momentan ein bisschen kurz (keine spannenden Geschichten) dafür bin ich weiterhin mit meinem Praktikum beschäftigt (und meinem lustigen Team aus vier Kerlen und Oskar) und der Tatsache, dass es (kaum zu glauben aber so wahr das man den kopf verlieren könnte) nur noch 18 Tage bis zum 24en sind!!!

Ich fühle mich ein kleines bisschen beruhigt, da bereits alle Listen und Pläne geschrieben und entworfen sind...jetzt muss nur noch auf magische Art und Weise ein bisschen (viel) Zeit herbeigezaubert werden...ob man sowas wie eine Vorbestellung beim Weihnachtsmann einreichen kann?

...lieber Weihnachtsmann, ich wünsche mir mehr Zeit. Herzlichst. Jo.

Naja. Falls nicht...wird schon ;)


Mein Zimmer hat sich weihnachtlich verwandelt (Fotos am Wochenende wenn ich mal Tageslicht in meinem Zimmer abbekomme) und auch die Stadt packt die Lichterketten und Sterne aus aber ansonsten ist es weiterhin nicht zu kalt und doch kalt und regnerisch...kein Schnee!
Und gegen das Wetter hilft immer wieder am besten:

Chili con Carne ♥

mhhhhhh...

Du brauchst:

• Oliven Öl
• 1 Zwiebel
• 1 Knoblauchzehe
• 500gr Hackfleisch
• 2 Dosen zerkleinerte Tomaten (meine waren schon leicht vorgewürzt mit Knoblauch und italienischen Kräutern)
• 1/2 Packung/Glas eingelegte Tomaten (Sundried Tomatoes in Olive Oil)
• 1 Dose schwarze Bohnen
• 1 Dose Mais
• Gewürze (je nach Geschmack. Ich habe benutzt: Salz, Pfeffer, Chili, Cayenne Pfeffer, Hot Sauce)

Knoblauch und Zwiebeln anbraten, das Fleisch dazu. Ablöschen mit den Tomaten. Erste Würzrunde. Dazugeben die eingelegten Tomaten (kleingeschnitten) und einen Teil des Öls aus der Packung (das kann auch direkt schon ein bisschen am Anfang zum anbraten benutzt werden!). Dazugeben Bohnen. Dazugeben Mais. Abschmecken mit den Gewürzen und je nach bevorzugtem Schärfegrad. Voilà!

Zwischen den einzelnen Zutaten und am Schluss lasse ich das ganze immer ein bisschen köcheln.

Ganz edel: Als Beilage Knoblauch Brötchen (bevorzugt: die hausgemachten von Mama)

Ofen vorheizen. Brötchen halbieren. Bestreichen mit Butter. Parmesan drüber reiben. Knoblauch Gewürz (wir hatten fertiges von Cosco mit Kräutern und ein bisschen Salz) drüber sträuen und im Ofen knusprig werden lassen.

Guten Appetit :)


(Sämtliche Schreib-, Tipp- oder Grammatikfehler werden bitte meiner reduzierten Nutzung der deutsche Sprache zugeschrieben! :P)

Weekly photos {22 to days until Christmas}

The old week in recap before we start into a new one.

We had one clear morning...with snow covered mountains

Apart from that: Clouds and rain. But even that is beautiful

I was also super sportive (the fact that I mention it actually points out that I'm normally not (*sight*) But for the record: It was bootcamp, running and step classes this week!

Coffee and some quality diary time

And someone could definitely not resist the cuteness of snowman cookies from Starbucks ♥

Changes

With the coffee pictures from my break today (my coffee habits just got worse...because now it's not just what's keeping me awake but also what's getting me outside! Remember...I work in a basement.....) comes some deep thinking. One of my friends posted this today on facebook:

"It seems everyone I know right now is going through change in life or searching for their purpose in some way. Is this what some believe the Mayans meant for dec 21, in that we will be ushering in a new intellectual or spiritual era for mankind? Or are we ALWAYS going through change and searching for answers...and dec 21 is just another Friday?? Whatever the case, it seems that 2013 is highly anticipated :) wonder what's coming for all of us?"

We all change.
And need to readjust.
And find out what we want.
Have cool new makeover-ideas for our life (just to do two steps actually and than come up with a new plan).
That's good and it's normal.

The only difference: If we go with awareness through life, we actually notice that we change. And others do as well. But apart from that, I think it might as well just always happen.

So much for deep thoughts. Unrelated to that: I ate waaays too much stuff tonight. It was one of those days... 


 

Photo of the day {November Tuesday}

Belated, but still:
Guess who's starting with all the chirstmas decoration :)

Otherwise: More rain, more work :)