September 29, 2008

Reeperbahn Festival 2008, Hamburg


Every autumn we have this really great music festival taking place in Hamburg. Three nights new and interesting acts play on the club stages of the Kiez. Some of them are internationally know, others are still on the rise and a bit outstide of the mainstream. This year the line up was really great. I wanted to see, Nada Surf in the first place, but as it always is.. int he end I 
haven´t seen them perform at all, which is not a pain at all, since I discovered some really good "newbies" instead. We started out at Übel&Gefährlich to see the Swedish Band I´m from Barcelona. Really great band. Good music, great athmosphere. Then we went to see Maria Taylor from the US, never heard of her before, exept I have heard her last "song beneath a song" a couple of times while I was in New Zealand this spring. What a coincidence. 
Then from the folkmusician to Constantines from Toronto... they rocked. But a bit too much beer before the show... I´d say! ;-) 

My personal favorite was the last act we went to see Lykke Li from Sweden. Fabulous! 






September 27, 2008

dare to read it aloud....

If I knew where poems come from, I´d go there.
                                                                                   - Michael Longley

There are the book persons and the TV persons. I am definitely a book person - always have. As a kid, I  secretly stayed up late at night to read. Whereever I go, I carry my book du jour with me - along with my ipod. Taking the tube every morning is really great for that. But 9 minutes are a bit to short though. Before going to sleep, I always read a bit... sometimes it´s just a few lines - othertimes I have to force myself to put it away. 

Finding the right book though, has always been and probably always will be a real challenge for me. I am not really complicated, but why do the bookstores seem to be full of romance-girly-nonesense books. Seriously, who reads this stuff? Well, I know some of my friends that actually do. But only while staying at the beach or for long flights or train rides! mmmhhh... right! ;-) I can´t  get past the first few pages without feeling either bored to death or thinking "this has to be kidding me?"! 

Once, I actually almost got into an argument when one person I hardly knew, tried to convince me that for leasure reading I should try Marian Kaynes. Right, but I don´t like that ridiculous stuff. She just wouldn´t let go until I was almost like I HATE IT, let it go! Why do they have to ply their taste on everyone?! 

Anyways, what I was trying to say, was that the book search is quite an endless adventure to me. I think I got to the bookstore like ten times before I actually find a book that I really fancy reading. I love bookstores and libraries - everything about them. Shelves full of great stuff. The thicker the book - the better!  Nothing beats a cup of tea and a great book on a rainy sunday afternoon. Years ago, while the Harry Potter hype was really hitting worldwide, I never thought I would ever be interested in this kind of stories. Fantasy - not my cup of tea. So, when I was living in Spain eight years ago, I had to pimp my Spanish and what can be more easier to read and learn than a childrens´ book?! So there there were Harry Potter. Why not try it and see what the fuss is all about. Honestly, I LOVED it ... and the second ...  and the third book as well. Lucky me, I was late in catching the Harry-Potter-ride, so the first four books were already published. And every year in autumn, I was anxiously waiting for the english version to be published. But not with a withc hat or anything the likes - just for the record! :-)

So, having finished my last great book by Jane Austen - yes, every other book has to be a classic - I was on the search again. I prefer to read the original version of the book, so I mostly browse the english section, which is not that huge over here. I have seen Inkheart a lot of times before, it has been a real success over here. The story sounded pretty fascinating to me, but somehow I never bought it. Maybe because it´s another childrens´ book made for adults. And it´s another fantasy story - which I am not really into. Like the famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy never captured me at all... well, I haven´t gotten past the first chapter. I have seen only bits and pieces of the movies, although I have been to the real Middleearth last March and loved that At least the scenery would catch me! ;-)

But Inkheart is different ... once again...  it´s about a story within a story, where the imaginary becomes real. So, two weeks ago, I finally bought it and haven´t stopped since. It´s a really great plot. Now I am into the second book of it - yes, another trilogy! 

I might be into fantasy stories after all! Will the trilogy of  The Lord of the Rings be the next? .... one day ... maybe.

September 21, 2008

who would have thought ...

                                 

... that one of the hundreds of photos taken in New Zealand actually would make it out in the open? I love my pictures and a lot of them are really awesome. Just watching them takes me back to one of the most beautiful place on earth.

Nevertheless, was I really surprised when I got contacted by schmap through flickr if I would give my permission for one of my photos being published in an online city guide of Christchurch. After checking out the website, I agreed. They won´t pay me or anyting and it won´t run under my real name, but that´s ok. So, everyone planning a trip to Christchurch, NZ and checking out the website can view picture. Hoepfully they love it as much as I did. Enjoy.


September 14, 2008

the next Jamie Oliver

Who would have guessed that I will acutally come to cook on a daily basis and somehow like it? I have never been one of those who enjoy cooking. Well, I am not the one to talk to about what to add there and how to prepare this and that. Easy stuff and fast please, that was my credo. Lucky me that I basically lived on salad and pasta! :-) Thank God for working innercity, so there is always some fresh take out salads and Chinese food to catch. 

Back in New Zealand when we decided to prepare some real German food for the Kiwis, I was lost half the way. How am I supposed to know how to cook "Rouladen" in the first place? Anke then saved me, since she knew how to and lead the way. It wasn´t that bad in the end. But I am no fan of those long time wasting cooking ceremonies with a thousand ingredients. 

Now after totally changing my nutrition - in gerneral no-carb diet. I basically have to cook fresh almost every day. First, I was really not so sure how I am going to fit that into my schedule. I go to the gym almost everyday and not returning home until 10pm, there is not a chance to go to the grocery store anymore... they are all closed by then. Somehow I managed though to get some frozen fish in advance and it really is no big deal. The food is delicious and the cooking or prepare takes only minutes. Now I am the next princess of the kitchen!

Seriously, now I am taking my lunch to work every day! My colleagues are still in awe and now 
I have volunteered to bake something for tomorrows birthday celebreations of one of my colleagues. Me, the one who burnt those brownies a few years ago. They indeed looked more like burnt earth than something to eat! :-/ Let´s see how that goes. 

The desert looks great though - strawberry oat cake. 

So, the strawberry oats cake was ... DELICIOUS...It´s really easy and ready in a few minutes excluding the baking! After writing my last entry a few days ago, I received an email from a good friend who currently also is living the "David Kirsch Diet" -plan. Since we live on each end of Germany, we used to update each other on our lives... that´s how it used to be until... now... we are now not only talking about who dates whom and what´s going on at work, we are indeed giving tipps on recipies... ahhh HELLLOOO? It´s that bad already? Are we getting boring?

No way.

It´s not like it´s a battle now who looses more weight or who is longer at the gym... that´s not it. Luckily. It´s rather what kind of food we like best and what so ever... boring... really. What will be next? I fear knitting. Oh no, but it´s like all I do right now... work, gym and cooking.... poor me... it´s my own choice though. The last years have been too much partying and drinking, so detox is the word of the months! And seriously it works. But enough of it already. Oh and by the way, no one will see me knitting... I have like no talent for this - seriously. My best friend started knitting when she was in Ireland... really busy over there I dare say... those socks are awesome... but rather wearing them ... not actually making them.




outfit du jour

I guess, this will be one of my new favorite outfits for this fall. I really love the skirt, also it needs a bit getting used to since it´s high waist and not sitting really low. One litte treasure found at H&M´s sample sale last week. :-)

September 11, 2008

dream catcher

I have no clue what is going on with me, but since three weeks, I have the strangest dreams ever. They seem so real and the most scary thing to me is, they are mostly about work. mmhhh. What does that tell me? Sometimes, after you wake up - or mostly are thrown out of the bubble by your alarm - it´s weird how you can still remember the whole thing, like a movie or like a real memory. And on other days, it´s just blurry, but you know that something "real" was going on.

I recently dreamed about having to do fake ads at night, with the most ridiculous outcome, I flew to NYC with colleagues and got lost in Manhatten. But tonight was the absolute strangest thing in a long time. I actually was on the run - and seriously on the run - from someone, but I cannot remember what or who it was. It was more out of a Lara Craft comuter game, like swimming through rivers (which resembled more the river in Christchurch, NZ if you ask me), hitch hiking, hiding in places and so on. The weird thing is, that when I got woken up from my alalrm at 7 am, I didn´t know where I was in the first place. Secondly I felt like I really ran the whole night, my whole body was aching. Like if I had been to the gym too much, which I wasn´t since two days for a change. Then I remembered the whole dream again and I coudn´t help but laugh out loud. Am I going mad or what? ;-)

As strong as I believe in spiritual things, like tarot, birth horoscope and stuff... I never ever looked up the meaning of dreams... maybe a bit to freaky!?! It´s said that dreams are a way of getting over with sth. that happened to you in your real life. But maybe it´s also a glimpse of sth. you have never been aware of that hides deep down in you! mmmhhhh. What also strikes me as pretty strange is, that e.g. one of my friends never dreams of herself in her dreams, she always sees the "action" through her eyes. I can see myself moving like a third person - sometimes. Also, one of my married friends never ever dreamt of her husband. Never. She was a bit scared at first, because being her other half, he obviously plays a huge role in her life, so one might thinkg he also sneaks into her dream world. Well, he hasn´t yet. We figured, that maybe because he is just the "stone" of her life, always reliable and always there, she had nothing to fear, so there´s nothing to dream about, because it´s just perfect in real life. Ah, we should do more counseling! ;-)

Anyways, this morning my colleague was telling me that she dreamt of sth. out of "Independence day", the movie. It suddendly got dark and a big ufo covered the horizont! Wow, that´s something, I´d say.

Well, we all have been really adventurous last night.... let´s wait and see what we´ll have to talk about tomorrow at work. Where can you get those dream catcher´s again? :-)
Still under construction... 

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