theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for February 2016

February Favorites

filed under: monthly favorites

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1. I am so thrilled that the X-Files came back with a season 10. I just love Mulder and Scully! Definitely a highlight of February! I really hope, they make a season 11. Are you with me?

2. If you’re still buying microwaveable popcorn (which is not that great for you in the first place), you need to try Trader Joe’s Organic Popping Corn and make it yourself on the stove. It’s super-easy to make, takes 5 minues and it’s a million times healthier than microwave popcorn. Not to mention, much cheaper.

3. I’ve been using the Fitbit for 6 months now and haven’t missed a day of putting it into my pocket or clipping it to my workout clothes. I love tracking my steps and exercise with it and use it religiously. (Thank you again, dear Marie!).

4. I might – as always – be late to the party and I apologize if that is a website that you’re well aware off, but I don’t think I knew what StumbleUpon was until I tried it out earlier this month and it’s amazing. I warn you though, don’t go there if you have sh*t to do. It’s a little bit of a time sucker.

5. Sorry guys for the repeat-swooning, but I just can’t get over how much I am in love with our washer and dryer. I know it’s a little ridiculous to be so excited about appliances, but damn it,  they are still making this list. It’s my number 1 happy maker this month. Deal with it ;)

6. I’ve been using a few of the Andalou products for a while and my recent favorite is their Resveratrol Q10 Night Repair Cream. It’s light, has a whipped texture and smells heavenly. (Pssst, it’s available at Target now, too!)

Friday Facts

filed under: Friday Facts

ePantry

I received my latest ePantry shipment last week. I know I may sound like a broken record, but I love ePantry and would recommend it to anyone! ePantry is a local, San Francisco-based small business and I love to support them. If you haven’t heard of this superb “subscription” service for environmentally friendly household goods and personal care items, you need to check it out. I put subscription in quotation marks because it doesn’t carry a membership fee and there is no monthly commitment; you can tailor your shipment schedule exactly to your needs. I personally get a shipment about every other month, but it’s totally flexible. They also have very cool promotions going on all the time. 

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Can we talk about the size of Marco Rubio’s ears for a moment? #GOPdebate Has anyone else noticed that his ears are HUGE? I mean, it was so distracting.

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Super-excited to show off our new home to my friend Susi this weekend. She’s been lovingly bugging me to be allowed to come over. We’re nowhere near finished setting up every room, but the more important question is: will we ever be? I see an Ikea trip in my near future.

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I am having a hard time hitting my step goal on the days where I don’t run (3 out of my 4 work days). If I manage to make it outside on my lunch break, I can get about 4000 extra steps in, but if I don’t, it’s really hard to hit even 2500. How do you guys with an office job fit in walking? My lunch break is relative short (30 minutes) and I work 10 hour days, so there’s not much flexibility. I know I could technically go for another walk in the evenings, but to be honest, that doesn’t really happen very often. Maybe I need to start taking longer lunches and stay later? Suggestions welcome.

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Do any of you have an American Express (True Earnings) Card that is tied to your Costco membership? Apparently, Costco and Amex will be going separate ways by the end of March and the True Earnings Card will be discontinued. Strangely, I haven’t officially heard from neither Amex nor Costco what our options are… are you going to switch to a different cashback card? If so, which one?

Happy weekend!

This post does contain affiliate links. If you decide to join ePantry via this post, you will receive $10 towards your first order and I will receive a $10 credit on my ePantry account.

Currently | February

filed under: currently

via @frametastic

feeling ecstatic about the washer and dryer that J and I purchased on no other day than Valentine’s Day. If this isn’t romantic, I don’t know what is. Ha. Well, bottom line is: no more laundromat for us! I couldn’t be more excited.

reading A Place To Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca for the Postal Bookclub. Such a good book!

working on getting settled into our house. Man, my gut is telling me that this to be process that will be going on for a while, am I right? But it’s definitely fun, too. I am not complaining.

listening to NPR (mostly) in the car on my commute to and from work and a couple of “Lovecast” episodes on my runs.

cooking the same dishes over and over right now because we can’t get enough of our brown rice pasta casserole and pork belly. Do you end up cooking the same dishes again and again?

looking forward to my birthday month. I have some fun things planned.

enjoying my runs at the local park. 

watching the presidential debates and town halls and feeling incredibly frustrated and appalled and hopeful and inspired at the same time. You figure out yourselves what I mean by this. It shouldn’t be a secret which side I lean politically.

savoring my first cup of coffee and my Real Simple magazine on the weekends.

wearing sandals for the first time this year. It’s been in the 70’s around here.

trying to implement an earlier bedtime again. I usually don’t want to go to bed earlier (because there are so many things I’d like to do in the evenings), but I (know I) feel more rested if I get a solid 8 hours of sleep.

What’s on my needles: Groovy

filed under: crafts, knitting

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It’s been a while since I had peace of mind for knitting, but I started again slowly after the new year. There is almost nothing more relaxing (to me) than knitting a few rows at the end of the day. The repetitive motion (and the added benefit of actually seeing your work grow!) are hugely satisfying to me.

I recently finished a couple of smaller projects (that I will show you some other time), but right now I am excited to start a new piece with one ball of yarn from my 100 Farbspiele (German for: “100 color plays”) stash. Those balls of yarn have a long color gradient ( > 500 yards per ball) and come in a variety of beautiful color schemes.

Long gradient yarn is kind of hard to find in the US (let me know, if you know of any source that has balls that run at least 700 yards), but I am lucky to get my supplies through my aunt and mom from Germany from a small business called “100 Farbspiele”. The yarn is hand-dyed, has 3 to 6 plies (strands) that are unplied (does that make sense?) and made to order, so it usually takes a while to get your hands on this yarn (processing time is about 4 weeks), but the yarn is so beautiful and fun to work with. In fact, it’s a bit addicting (I have four other balls of gradient yarn that I am dying to use.)

I’ve wanted to knit a Groovy, a triangle shawl, for the longest time and finally started a couple of days ago. The color scheme that I am using is called “Under Water”, which has beautiful blue and aqua shades.

The finished pattern  will look like this:

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This is my Mom’s work and she used the color scheme “Irland” (which is similar to the one I am using, just more green-ish). The fun part about this yarn is that you can start it from either end and that way you can decide how you want your knitted item to look.

I used to buy just any cheap yarn from Michaels or Joann’s, but I’ve become pickier over the years. I prefer lighter weights and higher quality yarns now, because they’re just more fun to work with and you’ll just get a qualitative better and more beautiful final piece.

What’s your favorite yarn? Are you working on something right now?

Daily Life | 11 ways to save (some) money at the grocery store

filed under: daily life, shopping

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I know, I know, I recently mentioned how my grocery budget might be a tiny bit out of control (but who decides that anyway, right?), but I wanted to prove to you that I do carefully plan our grocery shopping and don’t just deliberately throw groceries in our shopping cart (even though you might think that our receipts don’t reflect that behavior).

Anyway, I’d like to think that I am employing pretty good strategies to save be mindful at the grocery store and if not to save, then at least not to waste any money. (As always, take these suggestions with a grain of salt. Nobody’s perfect and I don’t do all of those things 100% of the time, but keeping these strategies in mind might save you a few extra dollars, which is just a way to say that my grocery spending could in reality be that much higher. Ha!)

Here are eleven of my strategies:

Eat what you buy.

Ok, that is a no-brainer, right? It seems obvious and this is my number one rule. You wouldn’t believe how much food people throw away every month! It translates to roughly 25% of the food people buy. That’s insane. My grocery bill might be higher than yours, but I can say with 99% certainty that we pretty much always eat everything that we buy. Only very rarely do we have to throw something out (and that usually just happens when we have unexpected changes of plan or when things that are supposed to last longer unexpectedly spoil prematurely). Bottom line: the biggest waste of money is if you don’t eat the food that you buy.

Buy in bulk whenever possible.

Even though we’re only two people in our household, we shop larger quantities of select items at Costco and we also tend to stay away from “convenience sized items” at the regular grocery store. It’s always financially wiser to buy larger quantities and divvy them up yourself (granted that you’ll be able to eat things up before they expire).

Don’t spend (much) money on drinks.

We hardly ever buy bottled drinks. We occasionally buy some apple juice and sparkling water (especially in the summer), but we mostly drink (filtered) tap water and homemade iced tea.

Go for the no-name brand.

I promise you, in 99% of cases the brand-name is not better than the no-name equivalent. (In fact, it might even be the same product in a different package!). I will admit that there are exceptions where I do reach for the brand name item, but that happens very rarely.

Always check the unit prices.

If you don’t know what the unit price is, it’s high time that you learn about it. The unit price is displayed on the price tag on the shelf and tells you the cost per liter, per kilogram, per pound, per ounce etc, of what you want to buy. The lowest priced item might not be the best deal in terms of price vs. quantity (though sometimes it is).

Shop your pantry.

So, we established the notion that stocking up is good idea, but you also have to make sure you eat the food that you have stocked up (otherwise the whole concept is a mute point). When you meal plan, check your pantry/freezer/fridge first and plan your meals around items that you have on hand and that might need to be consumed pretty soon, or else they go bad. Which also means: you don’t have to buy that item this time at the store.

Meal plan around sales.

I am assuming that this is what most people do anyway (it seems like one of the first ways to cut grocery spending that people think about), but maybe not. So, if you receive the ads for your local stores in the mail – just take a few minutes to see what’s on sale this week. Which also leads me to the next point.

Stock up when prices are at their lowest.

Don’t limit your grocery budget to a certain amount per week, rather think about your budget monthly or even bi-monthly. Because only then will you be able to take real advantage of the time when items go on sale at their lowest prices. The trick is to stock up when items are at their lowest price and have them last you until the next sale cycle comes around. I always – every week! – check if the items that we use most frequently are on sale and if they are, I grab a few of them (even if we haven’t run out yet). This way I make sure to always buy at the lowest price.

Take advantage of personalized deals by using your store card/app.

Many of the bigger grocery chains have apps now that you connect to your store card and they offer you personalized deals on the items you buy most often. This is really an extra perk that you definitely should take advantage off, because there will be sales on items that you buy regularly, even if they’re not on sale for everybody else. I consistently save between 20-30% of regular retail price at Safeway because I am religiously using their app (and I don’t usually even clip extra coupons from elsewhere).

Bake your own bread.

I touched on this before. Store-bought bread is freaking expensive and often not even that great. Start baking your own bread. Not only will you save some money, you’ll also get to choose which ingredients make it into your bread (e.g. NO added processed sugar).

Shop at different stores.

I personally have at least three stores (sometimes more) that I frequent for my weekly grocery haul. Luckily, the stores are not too far apart, so I don’t really have to factor in driving time and gas when I decide where to shop.

Which strategies do you have at the grocery store (if any)? Am I missing something essential?

February Link Love

filed under: link love

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Your brain is hardwired to snap. Super-interesting article about rage and aggression and how it’s closely related with the same group of neurons that could make you a hero.

Oh boy, did my friend Marian hit the nail on the head…  Learning to say no doesn’t give you permission to be a flake. I thought this was mainly American behavior, because I experienced a lot of this in all the years that I’ve lived here. I (almost) never experienced it in Germany and wonder if it’s a bit of a cultural thing? Either way – if you say “yes” to a get together/event, then for Peet’s sake,  you go. (The only real excuse to cancel is if you’re fatally ill or have some other form of (actual) emergency. Otherwise, if you say yes to something, you commit to going. Simple as that. Headache doesn’t count, a better social engagement doesn’t count either – unless you’re willing to risk a friendship over this.)

Are you a fan of mushrooms? I am and this recipe sounds devine.

Although I don’t necessarily think this is true for me personally, I can see how they win that argument: How refund policies encourage spending (and reduce returning).

Fascinating: we’re the only animals with chins and nobody knows why. Did you ever think of this?

This is what sand looks like magnified 300 times. So beautiful.

This is awesome. Add you own statement! My Dad is…

After I lived in Norway, America felt backward. Here’s why. I definitely can relate to many of those thoughts. In Europe, we take certain things for granted. “ What Scandinavians call the Nordic model is a smart and simple system that starts with a deep commitment to equality and democracy. That’s two concepts combined in a single goal because, as far as they’re concerned, you can’t have one without the other.” 

For everybody who’s struggling: grief has no expiration date.

Multitasking is killing your brain. And with your brain, I mean mine. Oh boy, maybe I should try to start focusing on one thing at a time? But, it’s so hard. Please tell me that you’re a multitasker, too.

The Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy Explained Perfectly With a Simple Animation. Brené Brown knows it.

Friday Facts

filed under: Friday Facts

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I am in one of those phases again, where I want to do a gazillion things and don’t have time to do it all. (Who am I kidding, that’s the story of my life!) I know, people say that if you have limited time (and who doesn’t?), you need to prioritize, but I don’t want to. I want to knit and read a book and go for a run all at the same time while watching a movie and listening to music and taking care of the daily errands. Is this too much to ask? Honestly, people (with kids, pets, an active social life), I don’t know how you do it all.

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Have you started on your taxes yet? It looks like I finally have all our paperwork together (although I am not 100% sure since due to my employer switch last year and the acquisition of our house, it seems like I have some extra papers to deal with this time around). Do you do your own taxes or do you have a tax adviser? If yes, what prompted you to make that decision? (I am still thinking I should be able to figure this out myself, but maybe not?)

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I found (fresh) pork belly at a new local butcher shop a couple of weeks ago and I might be slightly addicted right now. If you never had fresh pork belly, you need to try and get your hands on some. I had the hardest time finding fresh pork belly in the past (because – as I was told – most pork belly is made into bacon and if we know one thing for sure is that Americans love their bacon), but it’s just as good – if not better – if you prepare the fresh variety. Trust me, throw it on the grill in the summer and you’ll never look back!

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Are you going to celebrate Valentine’s Day this weekend? J and I are mostly boycotters, because we don’t really appreciate the hiked up prices that surround the day and the “at the push of a button”-declarations of love. That doesn’t mean that we won’t enjoy our time together this weekend and do something fun. I even confess that I did buy a cute little card for J at Trader Joe’s (They seriously have the cutest cards sometimes!) and any day is a good day to give/send someone a cute card IMHO!

TGIF!

Things I love Thursday

filed under: TILT

This week I am loving…

… that Instagram finally introduced multiple account logins. Hallelujah. I think they heard my (recent) pleas. This is such a game changer (I bet, not just for me).

… my new NorthFace snow jacket which I scored at the REI end of the season sale. Woot! This will come in handy very soon.

… the spring-like weather this week. Sunny, blue skies just cannot be beaten and slowly but surely, it’s starting to stay lighter longer in the evenings. I am still hoping for some more rain though.

… Season 10 of The X-Files. Are you watching? I am so excited.We’ve only watched two episodes so far, but I think they did a great job “reviving” this cult series! I never watched it when it first aired, but J made me watch all 9 seasons a few years ago. I am so thrilled Mulder and Scully are back.

… knitting for the little ones of two of my dear friends. I must say, knitting a clothing item for a baby/toddler is so much less intimidating than knitting an adult piece. Ha.

… fiddling with my new WordPress theme. J doesn’t understand it at all (but to his defense, he’s not into anything computer-related and he kept asking me  if I was having fun with what I was doing), but I like the challenge of fiddling with design codes and getting my blog set up just the way I like it. It gives me a strange sense of accomplishment.

… happy mail in my mailbox. Thanks so much, friend.

… a spontaneous “let’s not cook, but get Mexican take-out tonight” call from J this week. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love ‘Mexican’ and ‘take out’ in the same sentence?

What’s one thing you’re loving this week?

A little makeover and announcement

filed under: blog stuff

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Oh look! My blog got a little makeover. I didn’t really want to change too much, but I was itching for a little facelift. If you’re reading this through a feed reader, hop on over and check it out and let me know how you like it.

I have long contemplated to jump on the bandwagon of connecting my blog with other social media accounts and while I have links to my other social media accounts in the sidebar, I don’t really link back from there to here.

For some reason, I can’t seem to completely commit to being a “public” blog (which I technically totally am, of course). I don’t want to put a link to this blog on my (private) Twitter account, because I signed up with an email that I also use for Facebook and it has connected me with people who don’t know that I have a blog (and I prefer to keep it that way).

I know a lot of people have created their own Facebook page for their blog and while I like the idea, I also don’t want to mix (most of my) Facebook friends with blog friends. Silly? Maybe, but that’s the way I feel. So, I decided to make an Instagram account solely for my blog to inform you about new posts and other happenings. It seems like more and more people are moving away from subscribing via feed readers and new blog posts are “advertised” (I hate that word in regards to blogs, don’t ask me why) and checked out through social media channels (like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) anyway. Since Instagram is my preferred method of communication in connection to my blog, I thought this was the best way to go (although I will still link new blog posts on my Twitter account as well – I just won’t have the blog link on my public profile).

If you’re so inclined, you can add theinbetweenismine.blog to your Instagram list. If you’re getting updates through other channels, that’s fine too. I just thought I’d make it easier for people who prefer Instagram.

 

2015 Book Report

filed under: books

I really have no business blogging about reading goals or accomplishments, because in comparison to most people who call themselves avid readers (which I also tend to happily do, after all I was that kid with a book as an extension to my arm!), I don’t read a whole lot of books these days. I literally don’t find the time. I know, it’s a matter of making reading a priority, but I just have too many competing interests and don’t know how to accommodate them all. The struggle is real, you guys!

But, in an effort to a) keep track of what I did read and b) sharing what I liked and disliked about the books that I’ve read, I decided to post a 2015 round-up.

Maybe there is someone out there who breathes a sigh of relief because they realize that they aren’t the only one to not make enough time for books or who can even undercut my meager list and make me feel less like a reading-failure, but it is what it is and I am more than happy to at least be back in some kind of regular reading routine. Even if it’s only a book per month.

If you’re part of the #PostalBookclub that I am part of (and which I have repeatedly mentioned on this blog because it has helped me get back into reading more regularly), you’ll have heard and/or read many of these books that I mention here last year as well.

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Books I loved:

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (My rating: ★★★★★)

Of course, this is a classic and must-read. A wonderful and raw story of growing up, the wisdom and unapologetic honesty of children and life lessons that can only be learned from great role models.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (re-read) (My rating: ★★★★★)

One of my all-time favorite books. One of the books with which I got my non-reading friend  hooked on reading.  If you haven’t read (or even heard) of the Outlander series, I highly recommend you get with the times and start with this one. There are seven more books after that one.  (Note: The books were made into a TV series and while I heard good reviews about the TV series, I refuse to watch it. Once you’ve created your own images of Jamie and Claire in your head, you might understand why.)

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (My rating: ★★★★☆)

I loved this book. I know this because I finished it in three days (which hasn’t happened very often). I just really enjoyed to see Eleanor’s and Park’s relationship unfold. The only reason why I only gave it four stars is that the ending didn’t sit quite right with me after all they had been through together. 

Momo by Michael Ende (My rating: ★★★★★)

I love this book. It’s one of my favorite childhood books. Michael Ende wrote many more amazing books (unfortunately, only “The Never-ending story” seems to be universally known) and this book is definitely no exception. You should check it out.

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Books that I liked a lot:

City of Thieves by David Benioff (My rating: ★★★★☆)

I am usually always a little wary of WWII stories, but this was a great read. Gruesome, dark, funny and fascinating all at once. I found it interesting to read a story from the perspective of a Russian boy who lived through that time.  I enjoy (half-)fiction with a historical background and highly recommend this book.

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp (My rating: ★★★★☆)

I really enjoyed this book, not for Caroline Knapp’s tragic life (I was so sad to find out that she died of lung cancer a few years after reaching sobriety!), but for the honesty and rawness with which she told her story and the story of so many people suffering from alcohol addiction. 

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (My rating: ★★★★☆)

I really enjoyed this book. It was a sweet story and I found myself capitvated by the dynamic between Cornelia and Theo and Cornelias relationship with Clare.  I was a little bit annoyed how easily everything “fell into place” at the end, but not annoyed enough to not love the book. 

The Life List by Lori Nelson Spielman (My rating: ★★★★☆)

This was a fun read. I quite enjoyed this book and its characters. The story is sweet and compelling and I loved the unexpected “twists and turns” and the way that the story was strung together…. however, the end was almost a little bit “too good to be true” (and I am someone who LIKES happy endings!)

Respected: How one word can change more than your love life by Akirah Robinson (My rating: ★★★★☆)

Akirah is an online friend and I received this book through a giveaway on her blog. How lucky I was to not only get this book for free (you should totally invest and buy it!), but also be friends with such a wise lady. Akirah’s relationship advice is spot on and this book reads less like a “self-help” book and more like a conversation with a friend, because she shares her personal struggles with such humbleness and honesty and teaches some great lessons in the process. 

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Books that I liked just fine:

Love the home you have by Melissa Michaels (My rating: ★★★☆☆)

This book was just “ok” for me. I had higher hopes because I do enjoy Melissa’s blog (The Inspired Room), but I was hoping for a little less fluff and more practical advice I guess. I started this book when we were still in our apartment and I was desperate to move, so maybe I was not in the right mindset to really “internalize” her ideas. Maybe I’ll thumb through this book again now that I am living in a happier place.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery  (My rating: ★★★☆☆)

This was a good book, but it started out very slow. It wish it had captivated me more (I had to push through it at times), because I think that the story and characters were interesting, but I got lost in some of the philosophical passages and didn’t always see how it connected to the story. I was a bit shocked by the rather abrupt ending, too. 

Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata (My rating: ★★★☆☆)

This was a fascinating story of love, betrayal, and tragedy and the book left me with a feeling of sadness. Unfortunately, I felt like I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters and it made it hard for me to keep me “invested” in the book. I missed the feeling of ‘wanting to know what happens next’ that ususally keeps me engaged in a story.

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I hardly ever put down a book if I can’t get into it. I always think – because other people love it – there must be something in there for me. I know, that might not always be true. Luckily, none of the books I read in 2015 fell into the categoryof “not interested at all” and I finished and (more or less) enjoyed them all.

What was your favorite book of 2015?