Kapiti Coast

 Hi everyone :)

Today was the first real day in New Zealand as you can't count yesterday since I was feeling really bad and couldn't really do much. I actually fell asleep at like 9 pm last night as I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore :)

Today a great friend came over to pick me up. I got to know him through one of my former AuPair coworkers who I was great friends with already. One time she took me to meet her native friends and Jordan was one of them. We clicked instantly and he is actually the friend I was talking about in my blog post about friends, a view days back. 

He was originally supposed to pick me up from the airport but since that did not really work out for obvious reasons we hung out today.

I was really looking forward to meeting him again and it was better then I expected it to be. We literally picked our conversation up where we left of a year ago. 

I did not know where we were going because he wouldn't tell me beforehand so I was really excited to see where he'd take me. 

First we went to a little book store. It was really cute and I loved the smell of it. I know that might sound a bit strange but I'm sure you all know the smell of books. No? Ever been to a library? That is what I am talking about. 

At the book store they sold like used books and really old storybooks that were beautifully illustrated. I would have loved to buy one but they were really heavy so there was no way I could have taken them back with me :(

We then went on to go to the beach quite close to where I used to live before I moved to Wellington. It was a bit emotional for me but Jordan didn't fail to cheer me up again.

At this point the gorgeous sunny day had already turned into a bit of a windy day that was slightly cold but it did not rain :D

I swear I did not try to look like a tiger I was only trying to prevent myself from falling of :D

this was a piece of wood that had washed up on the beach

Somehow we thought doing this was a great idea just seconds later it turned out not to be so great because I nearly fell off when the tide came in :D

 On our way back we drove up a hill road to avoid the highway and traffic. This is the amazing view we got 

the island in the background is Kapiti Island. It also is why this part of the coast is named Kapiti Coast.

the mountains you can see at the horizon is actually the south island of New Zealand. You can only see it on really clear days s we were really lucky to get a glimpse of it. 

more pictures to come tomorrow :)

x

J.

Becoming YouTube

Hi everyone :)

I don't know how much time you spend on the internet or YouTube for that matter but speaking for myself I can say that I watch YouTube more then I watch TV and have been for years. 

TV is just not my kind of medium anymore.

So depending on how well you know your way around YouTube you may or may not have heard of this series called 'Becoming YouTube'. It's created by a guy called Benjamin Cook and simply brilliant.

It looks at YouTubers and the YouTube community itself and not only shows the bright side of the situation. It really asks critic questions and I think Benjamin has a really good point of view on the whole thing.

He addresses important topics about YouTube and it's content creators (only the British ones in this case because he is from the UK but nonetheless it is interesting to watch).

If you however can not stand people with their own opinion who maybe dare to criticise your favourite YouTuber you should probably not watch it!

If you are interested in learning a bit more about YouTube though,  then this is the right thing to watch because Benjamin Cook asks some pretty damn good questions.

I have watched every episode of becoming YouTube but I will leave you with the one I liked best so far.

You can watch the rest of them on Benjamin Cook's channel: ninebrassmonkeys.

They are really good and not the 'normal' kind of content you usually would expect to find on YouTube.

x

J.

The Adventure Ahead

Hi everyone :)

Just one day left and then I will hop on a plane and fly off to New Zealand. This is what I have been waiting for, for a whole year.

I got a job only to be able to pay for my plane ticket and the three weeks that I will be spending in New Zealand catching up with people and hanging out with all the amazing friends that I sadly couldn't take to Germany with me. 

A whole year of saving money has finally lead to this and I couldn't be more excited to board that plane and start the adventure New Zealand 2013, I really hope it's been missing me as bad as I have been missing it.

Also as of this very moment I am able to say that everything is packed and ready. 

I got the last bits and pieces that I needed today and repacked my suitcase for what feels like the 50th time. 

I'm really happy that my dad allowed me to take his camera on the trip so I will now at least technically be able to take great pictures :D As long as my eyes don't fail me I will try and provide you with as many picture updates from my trip as I can.

That is also where I address the elephant in the room: What will happen to this platform here? What will happen to the blog?

Well I will obviously try to upload post as much as I can but I simply don't know when that will be, as the internet in New zealand can be a bit difficult from time to time. But even if I have to sit in a McDonalds for half a day just to upload post I will most definitely do that because I really enjoy writing posts. 

So don't fret there will be post now and then just not as regularly as they are now. And most certainly not daily. But I will try my best :)

And there will not be any posts on Monday or Tuesday since my journey to Wellington starts on Monday (9.9.'13) morning at 7 am and ends in New Zealand on Wednesday (11.9.'13) at 5 pm.

Also I have a stopover in Hong Kong for like 10 hours so if anyone knows something for me to do for 10 hours at the airport tweet me or write a comment because I am desperate to know. 

So after struggling with my suitcase and the broken washing machine that wouldn't allow me to wash my clothes that I needed for the trip I am now all set :)

My flatmate was luckily able to fix the washer and my washing ended up being dry at 1 am on Friday morning which resulted in me going to bed at 3 am after I had finished packing and managed to close my suitcase after jumping around on it. It just is way to small. Like I am allowed to take 30 kg of luggage with me but my suitcase is so ridiculously small that it now weighs 17 kg. 

I had to leave shoes at home. Shoes!

I guess I'll survive :D 

So tomorrow is my last full day in Germany and the last you will hear of me till Wednesday :)

x

J.

Food Friday - Ultimate Breakfast

Hi everyone :)

I hope everyone is well and enjoying the beautiful weather outside as those my quite possibly be the last sunbeams we will get this summer. 

I however wasn't lucky enough to spend my days outside over the last week since I have been in physiotherapy for my scoliosis which is a result of the car accident I have been in. 

And although my physiotherapist is amazing with his hands and has really been helping my back now looks like I have been  and is completely bruised. It almost looks a bit like a giant hicky :D So well no running around in a bikini for me :)

Which is why we had to do something else that was equally as great as lying around in the sun getting a tan and nothing other than food can achieve that haha.

So on Sunday, as you already know if you are not here for the first time or follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I made the best breakfast ever :) You could call it the ultimate breakfast because that is what it was for me and my flatmate.

Al the way through the week he had been bugging ma about making breakfast on Sunday and on Friday I finally had enough and gave in. 

So him saying: We should make some epic breakfast on Sunday turned into me going grocery shopping on Saturday and getting up at 9 am on Sunday to make breakfast. 

The things I do for my flatmates, I should really win an award for this! 

Don't get me wrong I love to do these kinds of things even though it means I have to get up fairly early on a Sunday. 

Ingredients:

250 g     flour

2 tbsp     sugar

1 tsp     baking powder

1/2 tsp     baking soda

1/2 tsp     salt

500 ml     buttermilk

60 ml     sour cream 

2     eggs

3 tbsp     melted butter

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and salt together in one bowl and the buttermilk, sour cream, eggs and melted butter in another. Slowly stir the two mixtures together but don't stir for to long. It is okay if it is not a even mixture. Let the dow expand for about 10 minutes.

Melt a bit of butter in a pan and heat it up on a medium temperature. Depending on how big your pan is make 3 to 4 pancakes leaving them to bake for 2-3 minutes (or until the edges are baked) on one side. Flip them round and leave for another 1-2 minutes. This also depends on how brown you want to have them so just experiment with it a bit. 

Next thing you do is eat :D

Preferably for me with maple syrup and banana but you can have it with whatever suits you best :)

Or you can add blueberries to the finished dough if you like that!

I also made some hot orange-ginger-drink thing. I have no idea what it was called :) 

For two glasses you need:

6 oranges

1/2 tsp of grated ginger

Squeeze the oranges and heat them up in a pot with the ginger. You can then either drink it hot or wait till it is cold. It is tastes good either way and is actually very healthy. 

To change it up a bit you could also add the juice of a lemon and 1 tbsp of honey. If you do that though drinking it hot is way better :)

As you can see we also had hot chocolate but I don't think that I need to explain how that is made to any of you :)

It tastes a lot better though if you heat the milk up and add real chocolate instead of cocoa powder and a bit of cream. Also makes it a lot less healthy but who cares, right? It is breakfast so I don't really care how many calories it has. I can eat healthy the rest of the day :D

x

J.

Throwback Thursday - Funfair

Hi everyone :)

I am just going to take a wild guess here and say all of you have been to a funfair at some point in their childhood. If not I truly am sorry for you and you should make good for it like right now! Go to the next funfair because I can tell you my friend: You have been missing out on something big :).

I used to go with my grandma, sister and cousin every year and as soon as I was old enough to go by myself I did that. 

I am obsessed with these things and get way to excited over them as well.

Now I have no idea how I managed to live in Augsburg for a whole year and not go to the funfair that is called 'Plärrer' that we have here. 

This week was the third time they have had it since I live here and I finally managed to go with my flatmate who had never been before either (I feel like I should address the fact that he has been living here a whole lot longer than I have hahaSo shame on both of us)

Basically this funfair is a little 'Oktober Fest' but since I don't drink alcohol I just took part in eating loads of sweet stuff and candy floss :)

I kind of regret not having one of these lollies but I got to a point were eating more sweet stuff just wasn't an option anymore, sadly :D

I was so excited to go on the Ferris wheel that by the time we got there my flatmate was annoyed enough with me to promise he would go on it with me. I literally felt like I was 10 again and he and his friend probably thought I was some crazy person but that is fine with me haha.

our view from the Ferris wheel :) The green thing was some water ride but no one wanted to go on it with me :(

At one point I felt like I was enjoying the whole thing way to much for a 21 year old but I then got told that that is just who I am and they like me like that so I was fine with it :) I was probably the reason both my flatmate and his friend had so much fun because me squealing like a child over candy floss must have been pretty entertaining. Funfairs are just so amazing I couldn't contain myself.

We also had some real food to eat and didn't just live off candy floss, chocolate fruits and sweets.

this pizza was actually really good for funfair food

I enjoyed myself very much and would really love to go back but I am going home tomorrow and I'm off to New Zealand on Monday, so no more funfair for me. But hey New Zealand is even better :)

Although packing has been a nightmare so far :D

that is the space I have left

and that is all the stuff that still has to go in there

I think I'm starting all over again after this post goes up :)

Wish me luck :)

x

J.

Gossip Gril for You

Hi everyone :)

If you read my blog regularly you may know that over the past view weeks I have been posting about Gossip Girl on Wednesdays. More accurately about the style of Serena, Chuck, Dan, Jenny, Blair and Nate.

So I thought this week I would try and recreate some of their looks or just try to create outfits that I can imagine them wearing.

Obviously I didn't dress like Nate or Chuck or Dan for that matter but I tried my best with Serena and Blair. 

I got a friend of mine to take the pictures and we really did try to take this seriously but we just couldn't :D She is that one special person that makes me happy so being serious was never really an option :)

This is what came out of it :)

shorts: Zara , top: h&m, shoes: Tamaris, necklace: I am, earrings: I am

yeah this is just how serious we did take it :D

Tamaris

I can really see Serena wearing this, maybe with a bigger necklace. I really think this represents her style quite well. And she wore something similar to this. You can switch the outfit up a bit if you wear a nice pair of sandals with it. 

The high-waisted printed shorts with a simple black top could be worn to a shopping trip with friends or even a night out clubbing. 

dress: Zara , flip-flops: h&m, earrings: promod

I am quite happy with this recreation as it basically is what Serena wore in the first episode of season 2. My option is obviously lacking the hair though :D

blazer: h&m, top: Mango, jeans: Zara, heels: buffalo, necklace: promod

I absolutely adore this necklace! I bought it on a little shopping trip with a friend a couple of weeks back and I have loved it ever since and worn it as much as I can. 

                                                   top: h&m, shorts: Mango

I have no clue whatsoever as to what I am doing in this right picture but I figured it looked funny enough to put it on here :)

a little close up on the sleeves as there is something special going on there :D

This is probably more of a Blair outfit although it is quite toned down for a Blair Waldorf outfit :)

top: Mango, jeans: Zara, boots: Superdry

 I know that it was one of my friends favourites of the day, although I don't particularly like it. I put it up for her :) As a little thank you for helping me out!!

I hope you could get some ideas from this post and will now succeed on recreating some of the girls looks,
even though all of my outfits lack the essential of a handbag . I'm simply not someone who has a lot of them. Mine mostly are practical so I can get my Mac in and some books for uni. So you will just have to find you own perfect bag for each outfit. Sorry :)

x 

J.

One of Those People

Hi everyone :)

I don't know if this just happens to me or what it even is, that makes these certain people in my life a little bit more special than others, because some of them just are.

I have recently came to realise that I have 2 people in my life that instantly cheer me up when I see them or even just hear from them. There is no way I can be in a bad mood around them. I don't know why that is but it is great.

One of them is my best friend. You have read about him many times before on here and he still doesn't want me to feature him with a picture but I promise one day I'll get him to agree :)

He is able to make me smile with a text that says: Hi. It's ridiculous almost but true. There is not much he has to do and I will be in a good mood. He jut has that affect on me and it makes spending time with him so much easier, because even if we talk about something completely serious I know I will not go home feeling sad. 

But with him I'm not really surprised that this happens, I mean we have know each other most of our lives after all. 

The person that surprised me however was a friend from uni. She is such a positive person I honestly have no idea how she does it. She seems to understand me in a way that I can not begin to describe. I sometimes feel like she knows me better than I do although we haven't even known each other for more than 6 months (correct me if I'm wrong please).

Her being around me brings out a very playful side of me and I sometimes think that people surrounding us think we are crazy, but that is the good thing about her: She doesn't care what others think of us and when I'm with her I don't either. 

We act childish and draw hearts on our faces to goto movie premieres. That's just how we are and we are not ashamed of it. 

Even if I get up super early to go see her, as soon as I am with her all of the -grumpy-morning-me is gone. I can not be sad around her it's just not possible. 

And I believe that I have some good influence on her too. I'm starting to crack the little shell she has been living in and showing her how life looks from my perspective. 

We can learn from each other.

She is that one person that makes me happy and challenges me to be more to evolve. In a way that I didn't think was possible. 

We giggle like schoolgirls and joke like idiots and yet I wouldn't want to change a thing.

She just is one of those people that is a little more special than the rest of my friends. 

Just yesterday I found another 'one of those people'. 

Do you know that feeling of just instantly feeling save around someone even if you don't really know them yet?

I didn't realise I felt that way about this person until now. 

He is one of my friends in New Zealand, a very special friend that I have been missing a lot. He is very honest and wise without even realising that he is. He is the person that will tell you how special you are and how much you mean to them without knowing how much you needed to hear that in that exact moment. 

Recently a lot of my friend from New Zealand have asked if they should come pick me up from the airport. And don't get me wrong I love them all to bits but I just wasn't sure. And yet when he asked I instantly knew that this was the reason why I hadn't wanted the others to come pick me up. Knowing he would be at the airport to come pick me up calmed me down. It took a lot of my nervousness away and I was sure that I had made the right decision. And adding the fact that he was just as excited as I was made it even better :)

That is when I started to think back at the moment we had met and it became clear to me that we didn't actually know that much about each other and yet I felt like I had known him my whole life.

When we met I felt the connection and I felt save and like I had just come home to an old friend. 

He is 'one of those people' that you feel comfortable with a second after you have met them. 

I don't have many of 'those people' but the ones I have are even more special now that I have realised this.

They make my life a lot easier and I truly hope you have one of 'those people' as well. Maybe another one of 'those people'? I would love to know. 

How does this certain person make you feel? Save? Happy? Special?

x

J.