theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for February 2011

A little trip to the Zoo

filed under: fun!, my so-called life, weekend

Hi lovelies, how was your weekend?
After we got buckets of water dumped on us last week here in Northern California, Saturday was beautiful. Chilly, but beautiful and sunny.
We decided spontaneously to pay a visit to the Sacramento Zoo.

San

To be honest, I only wanted to go there for one sole reason: the Giraffe Encounter.
Yes, you can go and have an encounter with the giraffes, which means you can get really close and you get to feed them.

This is, if the giraffes are in a good mood (which means, hungry) and cooperate. Unfortunately, on Saturday they did not. They were too busy regurgitating their previously swallowed food, or something. Bummer!

They were still beautiful to look at, though.

Giraffe

Giraffes

Then there was this really funny Orangutan who kept hiding under a huge piece of packing paper. We were debating if he was using it as a sun-shield or a people-shield.

Hiding Orangutan

The flamingos were beautiful, colorful highlights at the lake in the center of the zoo. I think they’re really fascinating creatures.

Flamingos

It was a beautiful day all around.

Sunday I spent at home doing the usual Skype calls with my family (as always on Sunday mornings) and working on some blog posts, some crafts and the Indie Biz Portfolio, because Indie Biz 3.0 officially starts tomorrow. Weeeee!

Did you do something fun this weekend?

Six confessions

filed under: about me

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Recently Leigh-Ann & Kyla posted their six confessions, so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon. Here are my six

confessions

  1. I’ve never had a pet in my life. Well, that is if you don’t count the two budgies that my sister and I got for our 6th birthday and which we had for a total of 4 weeks, before my parents got rid off them (as in, gave away to someone).

    2.  

  2. I eat my twix from the top to the bottom, meaning that I eat the chocolate and caramel first and then eat the cookie bar. I love the cookie bar!

    3.  

  3. I eat my fries with mayonnaise, or better yet, a mix of mayonnaise with curry ketchup (Hela ketchup, imported from Germany. I am not aware of any curry ketchup that is available in the US). If I have fries at a restaurant, I’ll always order a side of mayonnaise. J does, too, by now.

    4.  

  4. I need a blanket when I sleep, even if it’s only a simple sheet in the summer. I can’t really sleep when I don’t have a blanket covering me from my knees up to my shoulders.

    5.  

  5. One of my friends, I have known since Kindergarten. It’s so awesome that I have a friend that I have pretty  much known my whole life!

    6.  

  6. If I could pull it off, I’d still wear Dr. Martens and Bundeswehr-pants on a daily basis.

Your turn! :)

Long weekends

filed under: about me, this and that, weekend

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Could a Monday begin any sweeter than cozying up on the couch under a blanket at 10 a.m., still  in your pajamas with your first cup of coffee in hand?

I don’t think so!

I am really thankful that I do get the federal holidays off. Those extra-long weekends definitely feel like a blessing, and it must have been the most relaxing weekend in a while. Of course, I ran my usual errands, did the laundry, cleaned up around the apartment, and went to the gym!, but besides that I took it easy and just relaxed in front of the TV with my crochet hook, yarn and a book.

Here are a few things that make the weekend really feel like a weekend after my own heart…

★ sleeping in without setting an alarm

★ reading blogs and responding to emails in my pajamas with a fresh steaming cup of hot coffee next to me

★ having a phone marathon with my family members (because the weekend is the only time where we can really talk extensively due to the time difference)

★ taking my camera out for a stroll around the neighborhood

★ checking out the local farmer’s market for fresh produce for the upcoming week

★ having fresh bread from the European bakery for breakfast

★ watching movies and mindless TV shows

★ falling asleep on the couch and waking up at 4 a.m. just to change location to the bedroom and crawl back under the blankets for a few more hours

★ spontaneously deciding to go for a walk in the sunshine (or not, if it is raining!)

★ going out to brunch with our good friends

★ just being able to do whatever I feel like at any moment


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Which things make your weekend feel like a real weekend?


Indie Business 3.0

filed under: about me, crafts, excitement, making things better, news, yes!

indiebiz3

Two or three weeks ago, during a moment of huge motivation and inspiration I came across the announcement above and – to be honest, somewhat on a whim – I signed up for Indie Business 3.0.

The moment after I hit the “register” button (and had paid the fee), my mind instantly started questioning my impulsive behavior. “What the heck were you thinking? Do you really want to learn about small business stuff? You don’t even have an Etsy shop (YET!), let alone a solid idea of what you’d even like to do with your creative side! Do you really think you have time for this right now?”

And then, I brushed all those silly and frankly annoying thoughts away, and decided “I will make time for it, and yes, I really want to do this”.
This is what I pledged to do in 2011: do more things that I want to do and that make me happy. Explore new paths. Meet new people. Try new things.

Why would I let this opportunity slip away?

In all honesty, I am slightly nervous and a teeny tiny bit intimidated by all the other creative people that have signed up for the class with me, not to even mention by the very inspiring teachers LA from Freckled Nest, Jill Munro from LuneVintage and Lisa of Lisa Leonard Designs !

But to heck with this, I am just as a valuable member of this class as anybody else (self-doubt much?) and I can do this. I will do this.

If you’re also taking the class, please leave a comment, so I can hop over to your blog (if I haven’t already done that) and/or connect with me on Twitter.

My Life Soundtrack

filed under: about me, music

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Inspired by one of LaMidge‘s latest blog posts about her Life Soundtrack, I thought I would share my own songs that make up the soundtrack of my life, that trigger memories from the past, make you travel back and revisit almost forgotten people and places.

♪ “Take on me” by A-HA

♪ “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits

♪ “Please don’t go girl” by New Kids on the Block

♪ “Entre dos tierras” by Heroes del Silencio

♪ “Like the way I do” by Melissa Etheridge

♪ “State of Love and Trust”  by Pearl Jam

♪ “Here Without You” by Three Doors Down

♪ “Song 2” by Blur

♪ “Push” by Matchbox Twenty

♪ “Believe”  by Vivid

♪ “Everything you want” by Vertical Horizon

♪ “Will Nur Dich” by Brings

♪ “Won’t forget these days” by Fury in the Slaughterhouse

♪ “Yes” by Chad Brock

♪ “See me through”  by Rascal Flatts

♪ “You and Me” by Lifehouse

♪ “When you say nothing at all” by Ronan Keating

♪ “Let Go” by Frou Frou

♪ “You know my name” by Chris Cornell

and last but not least, the song that gave this blog its name…

♪ “I am mine” by Pearl Jam

I am pretty sure I might actually have forgotten some songs that are near and dear to me, probably because I haven’t listened to them in a long time, even though I’ve spent quite some time this weekend trying to compile the songs for my Life Soundtrack.
Most of those songs really send goosebumps down my spine when I hear them.

I am really curious to know which songs do that for you. Again, make sure you check out LaMidge‘s Life Soundtrack and share your own list!!

Spreading some love

filed under: about me, friends, love, my so-called life

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Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you feel especially loved and cared for today.

Personally, I am not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. J and I feel we don’t need a special, commercialized day to celebrate our love, so excuse us if we skip this day. We won’t exchange gifts today and we won’t go out for dinner either. It’ll be a day like every other day for us. However, I want to take the opportunity today and tell you about the love that other people have shown me lately.

Within the last few months, I was really humbled to receive a couple of very nice emails and letters in response to my blog. I don’t have a very large readership and I don’t even know if I am striving for that, but it’s really lovely when people reach out and connect with me, especially when those people do not regularly comment and don’t have a blog of their own.

Finding out that there are people out there that found my blog and found it worthwhile enough to come back regularly to read my musings is pretty neat as it is. Getting letters/emails from these people, telling me that they like the person that they’ve got to know through this blog and that they believe I am genuine and real, makes me want to jump with joy.
This makes me happy on so many levels, especially because I only share a really small part of me and my life on the Internet and still seem to be able to paint a genuine picture of who I am as a person.

I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the lovely notes that I received (you know who you are, if you sent one!) and for reaching out.

For me, this is what blogging is all about. Connecting with like-minded people, making new friends and creating a global network of friendship and support.

On laughing ’til your belly hurts

filed under: fun!, good times

Jeff Dunham and Walter

Last Thursday, J and I had tickets for Jeff Dunham’s show “Identity crisis”. I think I never actually told you about the two great Christmas present ideas I had for J last year – 1) was a Roku player (Internet streaming box for the TV – yeah, yeah, we still don’t own a PS3 or Wii, shut up!) and 2) were the tickets to see Jeff Dunham.

We already had the chance to see him once in 2009 and the show again was absolutely amazing. I was really lucky to be able to purchase tickets early through a pre-sale (due to my account with Ticketmaster) and got floor tickets again, 14 rows from the stage.

Unfortunately photo and videotaping were completely prohibited this time (although I saw a lot of people snapping photos with their cell phones) and I didn’t want to make anybody mad, so I can only share an old photo from 2009 with you – but hey, the guy and the puppet looked pretty much the same.

I don’t know if you’re a fan of ventriloquism. I understand it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but I just love the way Jeff Dunham interacts with his puppets and how they really come alive through him. I also kind of love how politically incorrect all his puppets are – comedy is the only true form of free speech, I believe!
(I’d like to add that I am usually not easily offended by controversial issues when they’re brought up in a comedic context and I don’t really understand people who are). I haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time.
It’s this belly-aching, cheek-hurting, breath-taking laughter that leaves you completely exhausted, but thoroughly amused! Seriously, my belly muscles were so, so sore the next day!

Has any of you guys seen him (or any other great comedians) live lately?

On birthday wishes and friendship

filed under: birthday, friends, love

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So, today is the birthday of one of my very best friends.

Kim has been a HUGE part of my life for about 8 years now. We met online. We’ve been IRL friends for the better part of these 8 years. She’s one of the first people I will call when I need to talk to somebody. We met at a time when we were both in long distance relationship with Americans and we whined to each other and gave each other prep talks throughout this whole difficult time.

We’ve endured other people humoring us for holding on to someone who lives half a world away. We’ve proven to all those people that you can make the relationship work if you really commit yourself to it. We both had to learn the hard way that when you finally turn the long distance relationship into a “normal”, live-together relationship does not necessarily mean that there aren’t other obstacles along the way (although you think you might have overcome the most difficult of all.)
But we both know that having a friend to rely on throughout all of this, a friend who understands and who has “been there”, is a unique and precious gift.

Kim is one of the most giving people I know. She always puts other people first and tries to make sure everybody is content and happy. As a friend, I think it’s one of the most important qualities to be genuine and not run the other way when times are tough. It’s one thing to be a perfect friend in good times, but a whole other ball game to be there when things are not going so splendidly. Kim has proven to me many times that she’ll always be there, no matter what.

On your special day, Kim, I wish…

… that there is sunshine and lots of love surrounding you today.

… that this new year is going to bring you more happiness than ever.

… that you can pursue the things you love and make you happy.

… that there is plenty of coffee in your mug, cupcakes on the table and
lots of friends who show you how much you mean to them.

… you a bubble bath and lit candles in your bathroom.

… you something good on TV and a hand to hold
while watching your favorite show.

… you many, many phone calls from people who are too far away to come
and hug you in person (even though they wish the could!!!)

… that you know how much your friendship means to me!

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Please take a few minutes and hop over to her blog and show her some love.
She deserves it more than anybody.