Glen Hansard in concert

Last night my husband and I went to London, the unbelievably ugly Barbican Centre to be precise, in order to see Glen Hansard and his band.
In case you wonder, he is the one from the low budget Irish film hit "Once"...this beautiful, quiet, melancholic and authentic love story/ music film you simply have to watch in case you have not so far.

Don't wanna try myself as a music critic, only so much. It was fantastic!

Proper handmade and heartfelt music, 3hrs of non-stop show (incl. the support act "The Lost Brothers" which were really good too), all for a mere 15£.
Glen Hansard, you are and stay one of my absolute favourite musicians! Thank you for the perfect concert.

a cross-country commuter FAQ

I divide my time between Germany and England. That simple fact leads to a lot of questions from nearly everyone.
Three questions are probably my most asked questions ever and, unfortunately, I'm growing tired of them. Not a problem in the blogosphere really but anyway, I feel the need of answering them once and for all :-)

1. England! It always rains there doesn't it?!

average rainfall/snow (precipitation) in Frankfurt: 676mm a year
in London: 592mm a year

The weather might change faster due to the proximity to the sea and the extreme hot or cold days Germany sometimes gets are missing but that's about it. I have been sunbathing in our garden while my friends at home nearly drowned.

2. England! What the hell do you eat there?

It's as simple as that: look at me and decide again if I look like someone starving for half the year.
Food in England definitely has it's strange moments and a lot of people still eat a lot of stereotypical crap but that's an option, not a rule. The choice in supermarkets is stunning, the restaurants amazing. Jamie Oliver and likewise are English after all.

3. Frankfurt and London - so you fly Ryanair, right?

No, I don't.
Apart from the fact that the company and it's principles are more than dubious, their pricing policy is simply a rip-off.

A quick calculation:

distance from my home to the nearest Ryanair hub in Germany: aprox. 100km
cost for this journey (one-way!): 15Euros
duration: roughly 120min

distance for the trip from Stansted to home: aprox. 66km
cost (depending on the connection): starting at 18£
duration: roughly 120min (not thinking about traffic in London) plus a 20min walk

versus

distance from my home to Frankfurt airport: aprox. 28km
cost for this journey (one-way!):2,55Euros (as I have a season ticket)
duration: roughly 60min

distance for the trip from Heathrow to home: aprox. 6km
cost:: I get picked up :-)
duration: roughly 15min

cost for a return ticket at a randomly picked date in late spring
Ryanair: 66 Euros
Lufthansa: 120 Euros


It should be obvious why I always chose the 100-120Euro return ticket with Lufthansa as it means 23kg of free luggage, a chosen seat, a free snack, newspapers and the hope that they always carry plenty of kerosin on board ;-)

on the road 2

The train between Wiesbaden and Mainz, late afternoon.
A few moments before leaving two young people come on board. A girl and a guy. Disturbing my reading of the Buddenbrooks.
She, dark haired, tall, legs like a stick insect, about 18 years old. He just looks like most 18 year old guys seem to look nowadays.
Their final exams, the Abitur, is coming. It turns out that he has started learning, she hasn't. Giving him the feeling that he is actually quite a bore.
She talks about herself, constantly. Asking him some questions for the sole purpose of making him feel inferior.
She can't wait to move out and study somewhere else. Business administration and economy. She is not good at maths but so what, it's the best thing to study. No gap year or anything is planned - she wants to do another internship and an English class. Once school is over she wants to change and really work hard so she can land a good job afterwards.
Maybe moving to London, completely ignoring his comments about London being to expensive even for her.
He is obviously getting more and more impatient and uncomfortable.
His dad is "only" a teacher not an entrepreneur as hers. He wants to study in his hometown in order to save money. He is scared of failing in the maths exams. But is wise enough to plan to do nothing for a few months after school is out in order to chill. It's the generation that uses "to chill" a lot.
She seems to know everything, at least better than he does, speaks too loud, moves to narcisstic.
When they leave I want to pad him on the shoulder with sympathy and tell him about the average rent in London city.
I hope he hasn't got a crush on her.

Divas and Dreams Photo Challenge: Relaxation

Draußen vor der Tür

Autor: Wolfgang Borchert

Theater: Staatstheater Mainz

Premiere: 24.09.2011

Regie: Matthias Fontheim

Inhalt: "Kriegsheimkehrer Beckmann wandelt durch die Straßen einer verlorenen Zeit, zwischen Leben und Tod, Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, Traum und Realität. Er hat den Anschluss an die Welt und das Leben verpasst. Seine Frau hat einen Anderen, seine Geliebte kommt von der Erinnerung an ihren gefallenen Mann nicht los. Sein Oberst, auf dessen Befehl hin er Kriegsverbrechen begangen hat, weist ihn ab, als er ihm die Schuld von damals zurückgeben will..."

gefallen hat: Das Stueck ist gut und immer noch und wieder zeitgemaess, leider. Gerade dieses bruchstueckhafte, diese Abfolge von Szenen passt und regt zum Nachdenken an. Kurz, grausam und lehrbuchhaft, aehnlich wie ein modernerer Woyzeck.

nicht gefallen hat: Die viele Action auf der Buehne. Beckmann wird geschlagen, mit Wasser uebergossen, er kriecht und keucht und windet sich. Ist es aber nicht gerade die Ablehnung und die Kaelte der Gesellschaft die ihn zu Grunde richtet? Wird dieser Aspekt durch zuviel physische Grausamkeit nicht verdraengt? Denke da waere weniger mehr gewesen und das Stueck haette damit trotzdem haerter und desillusionierter gewirkt. Davon abgesehen: Nicole Kersten als ruelpsender Beerdigungsunternehmer und gekuenstelt hamburgernde Elbe war unglaublich nervtoetend.

Fazit: Wieder so ein Abend den alle toll finden ausser mir. Naja, insgesamt nicht schlecht und durchaus nachdenklich stimmend aber fuer meinen Geschmack trotz allem ueberfrachtet.

Hatchards

Hatchards

187 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9LE


It's officially the oldest bookshop in England dating back to 1797 and still has that feel (although it is now owned by it's Goliath like neighbour Waterstones)
Anyway, if you like your bookshop looking like it could just as well be standing in Diagon Alley from Harry Potter then this is for you.
The pricing is not as good as in bigger shops but one thing makes Hatchards stand out from the rest and keeps me browsing. They organize a fair number of book signings and after that sell signed copies for a while for the regular price. And with authors I mean the big names here.
Great idea if you a really liking a particular author or if you are looking for a very special gift.

35 Kilo Hoffnung

Autor: Anna Gavalda
Theater: Staatstheater Mainz
Premiere: 24.02.2012
Regie: Joachim von Burchard

Inhalt: Der 13-jaehrige David ist ein "Schulversager" wie Lehrer, Eltern und Psychologen im bescheinigen. und erfindet Zusammen mit seinem Opa baut lieber Dinge im Gartenschuppen. Als sein Opa krank wird, ist David auf sich alleine gestellt und muss sich auf der neuen Schule durchbeissen...

gefallen hat: Mathias Spaan als David war grossartig. Ist ja nie leicht fuer einen Erwachsenen ein Kind zu spielen aber ihm ist es mit seinem wachen, neugierigen und doch aengstlich unschuldigem Blick und der Beweglichkeit gut gelungen.

nicht gefallen hat: Irgendwie fehlte was. Kann es schlecht beschreiben aber als das Licht anging, hatte ich nicht das Gefuehl eine "runde" Sache gesehen zu sehen. Alle doppelt und dreifach besetzten Rollen (Eltern, Grosseltern) blieben flach und wenig ueberzeugend. Bin mir auch nicht im klaren ob die komischen Einlagen wie z.B. die Werbung aus dem TV die live gespielt wird wirklich notwendig und auch fuer Kinder lustig waren.

Fazit: Ich muss zu meiner Schande gestehen das Buch (noch) nicht gelesen zu haben insofern kann ich nur wenig dazu sagen wie krass gekuerzt wurde und wie sehr der Geschichte damit eventuell geschadet wurde. Ich fand es nett, David war toll aber insgesamt war es mir doch zu duerftig und roh.

on the road 1

He is on the phone, speaking Arabic, loudly.
Sitting at the gate, waiting for boarding. Mid-twenties, short hair, jeans, sweatshirt, messenger bag, walking boots.
Boarding is completed, I sit in 23F...he sits in 23D.
Still on the phone, completely unimpressed by the world surrounding him. Sometimes the conversation switches into German, sometimes I can pick up something I actually understand, standing out in a funny way.
Blablablabla Gangnam Style blablablabla.
Last moment before take off he is finally quiet, and takes of his boots.
Fully understandle that, I mean, the flight is going to be a staggering 1hr!
Airborne he disappears to the toilet and when he returns he has some amazing music on his fancy headphones. Can't hear a thing but judging by the way he is dancing and drumming in his seat it must be.
He stops dancing for eating the Lufthansa snack, stinky salmon. He asks for a second portion and gets it. And I'm annoyed as I had thought about it often but would never dare asking...and he just did and succeeded...self-convinced, at ease. He slurps his tea.
Fortunately this flight is a short one...sometimes it's the small things that add up.
I wanted to hit him on the head.

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Eigentlich habe ich ja noch genug ungelesen Bücher zu Hause aber im Bücherland in Karlsruhe letzte Woche konnte ich dann doch nicht widerstehen. 12 Bücher für 18€, genial!

Einen großartigen Verlobungsring den ich liebe wie am ersten Tag, habe ich an meiner rechten Hand.
Spät am Abend wird der Faule fleißig sagt man. Stimmt in meinem Fall auch...vorausgesetzt man empfindet zig Runden Candy Crush oder endloses vlog gucken als Fleiß ;-)

Einfach mal machen und sehen was passiert.
Das Jahr 2012 kann ich als Jahr der großen Einschnitte verbuchen. Ich war erleichtert als es rum war.

Du weisst, dass du alt bist wenn du Flyer liest wie z.B: "Junge Autoren gesucht", dir denkst "Yeah, cool!" und dann liest, dass du schon Jahre über dem Teilnahmealter liegst...

Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf packen, notdürftig aufräumen für den Schornsteinfeger der nächste Woche kommt, "Der Staatsanwalt" gucken, morgen habe ich bei hoffentlich guten Wetterverhältnissen nach London fliegen geplant und Sonntag möchte ich mal wieder geistig ankommen, meinen Schichtdienst geplagten Mann umsorgen, spazieren gehen und lesen!

Privat

Yesterday I made use of the grey, cold and gloomy day and went to Frankfurt to see the "Privat. Das Ende der Intimität" exhibition at the Schirn (still on until the 3rd February!).

Turned out to be a brilliant idea, certainly a highly thoughtprovoking experience!

First it starts fairly innocent with diaries on display from the German diary archive (which I in fact only found out about yesterday) and old family film footage. The sort of thing that makes you curious but leaves you, or at least me, behind feeling strangely sad and deeply moved.
Then you walk on to well-known art like the famous "My bed" by Tracey Emin or over 4000 photos by Ai Weiwei taken from his blog. Never looked at his photos and was absolutely taken, couldn´t get enough of them.

Of course you cannot organize an exhibiton dicussion what happened to privacy in the last decades and what value it has today without including 18+ material.
A woman having sex photographed by her own son, another artist investigating the sexual relationship with his boyfriend through pictures, a huge screen showing lots of porn videos and through that making it quite grotesque.

Another highlight was definitely the 1959 film "Window Water Baby Moving" by Stan Brakhage where he filmed the birth of his first daughter. Unbelievable that this happened already in 1959. Check it out on youtube if you want to...but let me tell you, it´s not the sort of birth you see on tv and might shock some people.

A really fantastic exhibiton that will keep my brain busy for a while now.

Yankee Candle Ocean Blossom

Enjoy a relaxing escape with Yankee Candle Ocean Blossom Wax Tarts. This unique fragrance soothes the senses and refreshes them with the essence of a beautiful tropical lagoon surrounded by flowers. Sea salt and clean ocean breezes are blended with uplifting lotus and water lily.

Never been to a tropical lagoon so I´m not sure if it really smells like one. For my nose this is a heavily perfumed tart (sounds more suggestive than I intended lol) but fortunately a nice one. If you imagine taking a shower with a new and strong Ralph Lauren style "clean" American perfume then you get an idea. I like it!

Freitags-Füller 36

Den 1. Platz habe ich als Kind mehrfach bei Malwettbewerben gewonnen :-)

Es bleibt weiter kalt, schade aber auch.

Wenn ich mich verwöhnen möchte, mache ich nichts groß anders als sonst. Bin halt disziplinloser Genussmensch.

Mein Rat an alle zukünftigen Bräute und sich auch sonstwie in Hochzeitsplanung Befindlichen: bleib locker.

Jedes Bild das ich schieße sollte feinsäuberlich geordnet und mehrfach gesichert sein...sollte...

Auf dem Heimweg vom Bahnhof zur Jugendherberge in Canterbury, auf der Kursfahrt im Jahre 2000, was haben wir Spaß gehabt! (nicht das ich seitdem keinen Spaß mehr hatte...ist mir nur grad spontan eingefallen)

Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf zu Hause entspannen, "Der Staatsanwalt" gucken und versuchen früher ins Bett zu gehen um ausgeschlafen zu sein, denn morgen habe ich eine Freundin aus Uni Tagen in Karlsruhe besuchen geplant und Sonntag möchte ich mich von eben diesem Trip erholen und außer dem üblichen Spazierprogramm einen Apple Crumble machen und danach eine meine im Sale ergatterten Lush Badebomben genießen!

Far and away

What are your plans for the summer holidays?
nothing in particular so far. Without kids and uni of course we try to stay away from the main holiday season.  September is full of weddings, October might finally bring a trip to the US...probably a few days camping in Somerset and a city trip to Helsinki or Edinburgh to celebrate our wedding anniversary in July.

What destination would be your choice if time and money wouldn´t matter?
spontaneous answer: Moscow and St. Petersburg...in really nice hotels and with my own local travel guide to translate and protect me :-)

Your favourite city? Planning to go there?
London, Paris, Brighton, Mainz...and apart from Paris I wander around there constantly.

Any winter holidays booked for this year?
I hate snow and don´t do winter sports so nothing "proper". But maybe, if I finally get my act together and book, I will go to Vienna with my husband for a few days in February.

Busy sight-seeing or relaxing on the beach?
Bit of both but I´m definitely the walking, shopping, visiting and drinking coffee-type and never have been in a beach resort.

Would you like to go on a cruise one day?
No! The idea of staying in the same room all the time is intriguing but the risk of a noro virus outbreak is way too high. My biggest nightmare.

Are you visiting friends living somewhere else this year?
I have three weddings coming up this year as a guest and photographer that will involve travelling (Swabian Alb, North Friesland, Trier). Apart from that? Seeing my uni friend Bianca in Karlsruhe coming Saturday and possibly visiting another uni friend in Manchester.

Any family reunions planned?
distinct lack of family here

The best trip you have made?
feels unfair and wrong to single one out, not seen that much of the world yet.

What are your favourite means of transport?
plane, train, walking...don´t mind cars as long as I don´t have to drive.


Any daytrips in your area planned yet?
definitely, starting this Saturday actually. In "my" German area: Karlsruhe, Koblenz, Marburg, Mannheim and probably Hagen to do a uni exam. In "my" English area: Brighton, Portsmouth, Oxford, Canterbury, Reading

Acurate planning or taking things as they come?
Loads of planning and worrying and fussing...but never completing it so ending up somwhere relatively unprepared lol

You never travel without...
my cameras (but unfortunately often without my chargers), hand sanitizers (and not the weak drugstore stuff but the proper hospital ones that kill viruses as well), water, my diary, anti-sickness tablets

polyvore VII

Don´t get me wrong, no one loves dressing up more than I do! But if you go to theatre on a very regular basis then it is normally just not worth it. So here it is, my outfit for all the theatre lovers out there that go often, alone and by public transport :-)

Freitags-Füller 35

Wäre es nicht schön, wenn es keinen Schnee mehr gibt diese Saison und die Fruehlingsblueher direkt loslegen koennten?!

Bald ist die rote Wand weg im Wohnzimmer.

Ich denke darüber nach, 2013 nun endlich Socken stricken zu lernen.

Sehr verehrtes Publikum, das englische Essen ist besser als sie glauben!

Als ich jünger war dachte ich, dass Sprachen je Land wieder komplett anders sind also z.B. in Deutschland anderes Englisch gelehrt wird als in Frankreich oder Italien. Habe mir das alles seeehr kompliziert und wirr vorgestellt :-)

Ein echtes Reiseschnaeppchen ist schwer zu finden.

Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf zu Hause bleiben nachdem ich die letzten beiden Abende im Theater war, morgen habe ich nach Frankfurt fahren, ins Senkenberg Museum gehen und auf dem Markt einkaufen geplant und Sonntag möchte ich in den Wald, auf den Friedhof, ein Wohnzimmerregal weiss streichen und Gulasch mit Nudeln essen!

Mlle is getting married

The lovely Julia is getting married this year and our queen of polyvore Alice had a go at creating a wedding outfit for her. What a brilliant idea!
As I, despite my love/hate relationship with weddings, enjoy that sort of brainstorming I have done the same now. Which is funny and risky at the same time as I have (so far) never met Julia in real life...anyway:
Dear Mlle louve a Paris, this is for you, I hope you don't throw your hands up in horror now :-)

Stereo Rose

Last week another hype rocked the blogosphere.
The launch of MAC´s "Après Chic" collection and with that the re-launch of the much loved Mineralize Skinfinish in the colour "Stereo Rose"

My dashboard got swamped with posts about the benefits of using this baby so I thought I should give it a go. Send out my fearless husband to the duty free shop at Heathrow and, voila: got it! My first ever Mineralize Skinfinish and my second MAC product at all.
So far I have used it as a blush as it seem to be quite strongly pigmented and shines golden but it works just as well as a highlighter or overall shimmer.
Happy :-)

And in case you are hooked now - too late, it is sold out pretty much everywhere. Evil me...;-)

Quartet

director: Dustin Hoffman
year: 2012
with: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly, Pauline Collins, etc.

story: The inhabitants of a retirement home for former musicians and opera singers prepare for their annual concert when former star soprano Jean Horton moves in and brings trouble...

what I liked: a beautiful English country house, Dame Maggie Smith, classical music and some theatrical backstage magic and eccentric characters spell my sort of setting.
I really liked the idea of showing old pictures of the actors during the end credits, added to the feeling that they all were young and successful once...Another plus was that the final sung quartet from Rigoletto was heard but we didn´t see it - there is nothing more cringe-worthy then watching actors pretend they can sing.

what I didn´t like: Billy Connolly. -  I hate his Scottish accent, don´t find him funny as a stand-up and found him fairly annyoing in this film too. And the scene when a school class works out that opera and hip hop are actually very similar - if all classes were that tame, enthusiastic and behaved even I would consider a career in teaching lol

verdict: A nice little film though not very realistic. Nothing spectacular but worth it...and even if it´s only to hear Maggie Smith say "Fuck you" on the screen :-)

Glossybox 12/2012

• Cosline Concealer Nr. 965 (well, a concealer in a slightly too warm shade from an unknown to me company, hmm)
• Dr. Hauschka Lipstick Novum 01 glossy chocolate (ok as I quite like sheer brown lipsticks and like the "wholesome" smell of natural cosmetics)
• Eau Thermale Avene D-Pigment (I´m sure it is a fab and luxurious product...if you have problems with pigmentation. Fortunately I don´t (yet) so it´s a bit of a very expensive waste. What a shame. )
• Gerstein for Ahava Holiday Ornament Body (useful for travelling as it contains a small body lotion and a small body wash, the smell is absolutely divine but very potent too. Similar to "Poison" which, lucky me, is one of my favourite scents!)
• Korres Eyeshadow (nice...matches the lipstick)

plus: the pointless as ever Glossymag and some fake lashes. Curious to try them as I never ever have so far! But no Lush product, no Essie "Penny Talk" nail colour, no Bunnyrouge product...bit disappointed. But compared to  previous months at least I´m moaning on a fairly high level :-)

Freitags-Füller 34

Ich schaffe in diesem Jahr tolle Dinge, das rede ich mir nun einfach mal ein :-)

Wenn ich alleine bin mache ich es gar nicht und auch in Gesellschaft schaue ich nur extrem ungern Fernsehen.

Sie haben von der sibirischen Wetterpeitsche gesprochen, haha. Ich waere froh wenn es mild bliebe aber ich befuerchte das dicke Ende kommt noch.

Ist ungenügend nun eine 5 oder 6? Egal, hatte beides recht oft in der Schule.

Was ist bzw. wer ist eigentlich Kim Kardashian?

Das Ende des Christmas Specials von Downton Abbey war an Tragik kaum noch zu toppen.

Was das Wochenende angeht, heute Abend freue ich mich auf Hackbraten essen und danach eventuell ins Kino um "Quartet" zu sehen, morgen habe ich mit der Bluebell Railway durch die Gegend fahren geplant und Sonntag möchte ich auch nochmal irgendeinen schoenen Ausflug machen, wenn moeglich an die Kueste und danach packen!

the way to someones heart...

...is through the stomach.

A really clever and simple idea which I came across recently (and directly asked myself why I never thought of it before!).
As a child I loved my "Poesiealbum" no matter how old-fashioned it seemed or how uninspired some of the entries were. This book is based on the same idea only that this time you collect recipes from your friends instead of wise words and stickers.
You hand it around and your friends will add one of their favourite recipes to it so in the end you should get a nice, personal and varied collection.

A fantastic idea! And of course you can use any book for this and don't have to buy the "official" one. Will definitely start soon.
Tell me if you are planning to do the same, will be interesting to see where this might lead to.

Auld lang syne II

one last end of year post, I promise! From now on the new year has properly started and I will hopefully be posting a variety of stuff again :-)

Last year I had a look at my old resolutions so I wanna do the same reality-check this time.

2012 I wanted to:

• lose more weight/ keep on running -->hmm, no. Same weight and haven't been running for ages.
• stop talking about starting a family and doing it instead -->well, the biological clock is still ticking but I'm still damn good at blocking it out with the white noise of everyday life
• read 30 books -->a mere 11 I managed. I blame the internet...
• go to theatre 30times -->over achieved on this one, yeah :-)
• watch 30 films -->mission accomplished!
• get that 2 tattoo -->I still want it, I know what I want, where I want it and who should do it...only need to DO it now
• change of shopping behaviour -->still binging on Primark and sale items unfortunately but maybe a little less often
• use more foundation ;-) -->yes!

 so "drumroll", 2013 I want to:

• buy/consume in small independent shops/cafes instead of chains whenever possible
• read less reviews, forums and yellow press online as it tends to wind me up or upset me only
• work harder for both universities
• more de-cluttering at home
• trying to be more groomed, always...no more chipped nail polish or grown out hair cuts for the generation 30+

• the same "30-rule" when it comes to theatre, books and films
• all the remaining points from 2012 (tattoo, shopping, running, family planning!)

so let's keep our fingers crossed and let's all try our very best to keep our resolutions going. Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2013!

bring out the old, bring in the new

inspired by Petra, here my abridged version of her end of year questionnaire...it's a bit late but it took me a lot of thinking to write this. Hasn't been an easy year...

what themes defined 2012 for me? 

loss, recovery, forming of new routines, optimism, energy

what things have I been putting off that I need to execute on before the end of the year? 

ha, writing this exact post (amongst many others)

what have I accomplished this year? 

I finished my university "career" in my beloved Mainz

what emotional lessons? 

life goes on, always.

what got in my way?
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"...as valid as ever

who contributed to my successes?
my husband and my father obviously.
But one friend in particular as well...without her kicking my ass to get on with uni again after dropping out and without her unbelievable help with editing my final thesis I wouldn't have a degree now!

what do I need to let go of? 

my mum

what was missing for me this year? 

life as I knew it

I stopped... ?
saying or doing this only cause I'm supposed to...I have become even more honest, outspoken und rigorous, at least I hope that

I started... ?
studying photography...as well as history and literature

I created... ? 

many many photos

I loved... ?
on a shallow level: watching Downton Abbey...seeing Cate Blanchett on stage...sniffing Cartier Baiser Vole...my new Freitag bag...cooking, eating and travelling

I was embarrassed by... ?

nothing serious...the older I get the more it takes to embarass me

I was frustrated by... ? 

superficiality, platitudes

I needed more time for... ? 

myself...when it comes to me-time I'm high-maintenance

I missed... ?

being part of a large family

I went... ? 

to Stratford-upon-Avon, Hamburg, Munich, Karlsruhe, Lubeck, Marburg, Heidelberg, Koblenz, Bruges, DePanne, Bath, Glastobury, Bristol, Volterra, Pisa, Florence, San Gimigiano, Lucca

I relaxed when... ? 

...I'm in theatre, at an airport, on a train, going for a long walk, in my bed or having a bath

time flew when... ?

every single day...I mean, 2013! Really?!?

I want to repeat... ? 

nothing, it happens for a reason that nothing in life can be repeated

I felt most alive when... ? 

I was walking through my beloved London on my own on a sunny and quiet Sunday morning

physically, the biggest difference since last December is... ? 

about 40cm less hair

psychologically, the biggest difference since last December is... ? 

being free of the extreme worries considering my mum's health

spiritually, the biggest difference is... ?

knowing that whatever happens, it will pass

socially, the biggest difference is... ? 

realizing that we all have a different ways of life now and that sometimes it is very difficult to connect again with people you once were close with. Next step is to fully accept that now.

my biggest win was... ? 

concert tickets worth 50Euros each

I want more... ? 

"quality time" (oh how much I actually hate this phrase) with my husband

the best thing I did for someone else was... ? 

going on holidays with my Dad I guess