Beauty Empties December

In December, 40 products left me. I decluttered 18 of these 40 products, the other 22 have indeed been used up. Have a look at the group picture (only the decluttered eye shadows are missing, but you can see them below - I gave them away already in the middle of December and hence, they were already gone when I took the group picture):

A short summary and my thoughts about the emptied or decluttered products:

• Shower gels
• Loodus Cosmetics Spruce Shower Gel, tiny sample: smells very strong like fir. I didn't like it. The scent was too strong and the sample was too tiny to be able to judge the product - I was only able to use it for 1 leg. ;-) Hence, I won't purchase this product. 
• Loodus Cosmetics Lemongrass Shower Gel, tiny sample: smells very strong like lemon grass. Not bad, I might purchase this one. It is not cheap but also not too expensive (10 CHF). However, again the sample was too tiny to be able to judge the product - I was only able to use it for 1 leg. ;-) Hence, I won't purchase this product that soon - maybe some day but rather not in the next months.
  

2013: a reading outlook

As mentioned in my review of the last year, I managed to read 19 books in 2013. I want to keep up with that reading pace and hope to be able to read at least 12 books in 2013. With this post I want to share my plans for the reading year 2013 and also the thrill of anticipation I am feeling when looking at the books that are waiting for me to be read. 

I was inspired for this post by the wonderful book and audiobook I recently received by the lovely Sue from Happy Ich. She organized a really great give away last month (actualy she even organized a couple of great give aways) and I was a very happy winner. I usually never win anything. Hence, I was taken by surprise to win such a great gift! Have a look at the great book and audiobook I won:

Sue said about the book that it touched her very deeply and I am looking forward to maybe make the same experience. I already am quite much focused on my body and started to have kind of a love affair with it myself e.g. by doing sports, meditating and taking care to sleep enough. But I think there still is a lot of room for inspiration and motivation for a new approach on body blessing. I already started to listen to the audiobook which consists of some really nice guided meditations and I do enjoy very much to listen to it. The book is on top of my To Read list of 2013. 

2012 - a year in review

This post is a review of 2012. It was inspired by a lovely tag. I found a version of this tag on the blog Heart to breathe. And I found a really nice adaptation at Selbstbewusst leben. My version is a mixture of both. 

1. Prevalent feeling 2012? Last year was quite mixed. Although I surely felt a lot of happiness in 2012 and now in retrospective it also turns out to have been a great year, I also suffered a lot of fear and anxiety due to my thesis. When I started to meditate in September, however, I found a great way to relaxation and slowly gained back control over my life and my time. So, for me meditation was one of the greatest discoveries of 2012.
   
2. Done for the first time in 2012? Meditation, Qi Gong, Pilates (I mean real Pilates and not just some bums-tums-and-legs training called "Pilates" ;-))
3. Done 2012 after a long time again? Yoga. But I didn't like it, unfotunately, because the Yoga teacher was not that great. I don't think that I'll give it a try again in 2013, but surely later in a couple of years.
   
4. Unfortunately not done at all in 2012?  Knitting. I miss it a lot. Hopefully, I will be able to do it again in 2013.
5. Learned lessons: Amongst others, I learned how to let go and this made a huge change in my life. But I also learned a ton of other stuff. 2012 was the year with the most insights concerning self-development, relationships and health and sports. Looking back, I feel so much wiser than before and although it was a year with ups and downs, I managed to make huge progress - even if it might not be that visible. I did a lot of foundation work and especially at the end of the year, it really paid off. :-)
   
6. Insight of the year? I'm the one in control and attitude is everything.
   
7. Word of the year? Unprocrastination :-)
   
8. Gained some weight or lost some weight? Lost weight.
   

A closer look to my MAC order (& comparison of palettes)

Here are a couple of details on my MAC order of last week (I posted a summary of all hauls recently here). Besides showing my new MAC items, I'd like to show you the differences between the old 15 palette and the new 15 palette as the new one is available in Germany only since November (and in the US it was released in August or September). Hence, it is new and I have not found any comparison yet. 

In this post, you can see my MAC order in the right bottom of the picture. There, the palette is still in its packaging. Have a look here at my order completely unpacked (actually even more than unpacked as I already filled the palette with my bright base eye shadows :-)):

11 things (part 2) /11 Dinge (Teil 2)

I have been tagged by Fräulein Kitsch to answer the 11 things tag. As it is a quite comprehensive tag, I divided it into two parts. Here you can read the first part where I follow the first rule of the tag and write 11 things about myself.

The following rules apply to the persons that have been tagged by the 11 things tag. The parts that are done are striked (klicking on the text leads you to the corresponding post):

1. write 11 things about yourself (done, see here)
2. answer the 11questions you're asked by the tagger to answer
3. devise 11 questions and tag 11 bloggers to answer them (the bloggers should have less than 200 readers if possible)
4. inform these bloggers
5. tagging backwards is not allowed

Here are my answers to the 11 questions Fräulein Kitsch has asked me:

1. What career aspiration did you have when you were a child? Would you still like to work in this area?
   Actually, I only started to think about having a job when I turned 12 or 13. Before that I didn't have any kind of career aspiration. ;-) As a teenager I considered two career options and both are still somehow accompanying me. Inspired by Bonnie from the TV series Knight Rider, I wanted to do something with Artificial Intelligence and to maybe create an artificial intelligence like K.I.T. Afterwards, I became interested in psychology and considered studying psychology - but I didn't have a proper vision about what exactly I would do with it. Both areas are still relevant in my life and I think that they are very much related.  
   
   

   

   Bonnie Barstow, PhD, here with Michael Knight ;-) via 1

2. What was the most embarassing thing that happened to you (and that you are willing to share)? 
   
   I really don't remember (anymore?). I often blunder but I just don't feel embarrassed about it anymore since a couple of years. Shit happens to everyone, so why should we waste our precious time with feeling ashamed? ;-) 
3. If you were reincarnated after death: how would you be reborn?
   
   I don't know whether I already deserve to get into the Nirwana but I'd like to go there. I'd also be fine with being reborn as a human again - but I think that this one life is enough. Maybe, however, it would be nice to be reborn as a human man. ;-) I definitely don't want to become some kind of animal or plant. This would be too boring for me as I wouldn't be able to have discussions anymore.
4. Is there any protagonist of a book you can identify with?
   
   That is a difficult question because I prefer to read non fiction books. Maybe Fred "Bogus" Trumper from the Watermethod man by John Irving.
5. Flower bouquet or potted plant?
   
   Flower bouquet. Unfortunately, I cannot take care of plants and they die very fast when I am responsible for them. And then I feel terrible.
6. Do you wear sweat pants or jeans at home?
   Jeans.
   
7. Have you ever got a really aweful present?
   
   Not really aweful but of course I also got a lot of crappy presents. I have decluttered them all this year. ;-)
8. The UK or the US?
   
   That is a difficult question again. Probably the UK because it is not far away. But the US is a great country, too. For me, the only thing that matters is that I can speak English. ;-)
9. If your friends had to describe you in 3 words what would they say?
   
   I just asked a friend because I wouldn't know what I'd say as a friend of mine. She said: balanced, curious and helpful. I just mention it uncommented.
10. White or black?
    grey
11. Do you believe in paranormal activities?
    No. 

And here are my questions:

1. How and why did you start blogging?
2. How much time a week do you invest into your blog and do you think that this is too much or not enough?
3. What do you love to do most (except for blogging :-))?
4. What do you cook when you come home after a tough day and you're very hungry? 
5. Which book is your favourite book and why?
6. Do you prefer to organize or rather to search for things?
7. Do you have a pet? If yes what kind of pet (and what is its name?)?  If not, would you like to have one?
8. TV-series or movie?
9. What is the task you catch yourself procrastinating most often? How do you manage to get over procrastination then?
10. Living means ... 
11. What is the most annoying thing with other persons for you?

I ask the following bloggers and hope that they all are up to the game as I'm looking very much forward to read their answers. :-) 

• Sue of http://happyich.blogspot.de/
• Chrissie of http://foreverinlovewithshopping.blogspot.de/
• Christine of http://mitten-im-winter.blogspot.de/
• Molly from http://lovelife-hamburg.blogspot.de/
• Hope from http://this-is-hope.blogspot.de/
• Angela of http://www.paperlovestory.com
• Millie of http://mslogica.com/
• Eternal*Voyager from http://www.venusianglow.com/
• The blogger of http://soleildanslecoeur.blogspot.de
• The blogger of http://www.fashionseine.blogspot.de/
• The blogger of http://solosogno.blogspot.de